


Cheating Destiny

by Sarah1281



Category: Smallville
Genre: Fix-It, Time Travel, old fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-02
Updated: 2015-09-02
Packaged: 2018-04-18 18:24:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 23,344
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4716044
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sarah1281/pseuds/Sarah1281
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When a freshman Clark wakes up twenty-five years into the future and can't reach his parents or Pete, he turns to Lex to help him figure it out. What a wonderful opportunity this is to correct certain aspects of their past...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Never let it be said that Lex Luthor did not know how to take advantage of an opportunity.

He hadn't been expecting Clark Kent to call him that morning, sounding more shaken than Lex had ever heard him, and ask to come over but he had quickly agreed. It wasn't like his refusal could stop Superman if he were really dead-set on the idea so Lex didn't think there was anything dangerous about granting the request. And then, of course, there was the fact that it might actually prove interesting.

Though he had indeed lost his memory fifteen years ago, he had immediately put his top men to work on finding a cure and as some of them had helped develop the chemical that had taken away his memory in the first place, within the year he had managed to restore it.

That was the one secret he kept from Clark. It was nice to be able to have a secret from Clark for once instead of always being the one left out but that wasn't the only reason he'd done it. He had more information than Clark, who remained convinced that he didn't know, and information such as that was power. There was also the risk that one of Clark's associates might try to kill him or erase his memory again if they knew that he was aware of Clark's alter ego for all that he had never used that information.

And then, of course, there was the simple fact that he was convinced that if Clark knew that he remembered those seven years spent in Smallville then he'd have to put up with more sanctimonious lectures about how he'd tried to save Lex but Lex just wouldn't cooperate. It was unbelievable how obtuse Clark could be at times.

"He would have felt the same way about you, Lex, if you would have tried." How Clark had honestly managed to look him in the eye and tell him that Lionel would have given a damn about Lex if only he would have tried was beyond him. Clark's selective memory wasn't anything new, however, once he had decided that Lex was evil – notably after Lana started dating him – he seemed to have completely rewritten their entire history. Walking away from all of that was the smartest thing he'd ever done.

"Mr. Kent is here," his secretary's voice said over the intercom.

"Send him in," Lex instructed.

Clark walked through the door and Lex started at the change in him. Usually he seemed to be almost hiding when in his reporter persona, slouching to hide his physique and his confidence and with a pair of ridiculous spectacles adorning his face as if that was all that it took to fool the world. Amazing, that really was all it took but Lex had never had much faith in the world anyway. Today, Clark was wearing the same sort of suit that he always wore but he was standing up straight for once so everyone could see just how well-built he was and the glasses were nowhere in sight.

Lex decided to remain silent and let Clark make the first move.

"Lex, thank God," Clark said, breathing a sigh of relief.

Whatever Lex had been expecting, it had not been that.

"Is something the matter?" he asked carefully.

Clark nodded. "Like you wouldn't believe! I woke up this morning and all of a sudden I'm forty and I live in Metropolis and work at the Daily Planet and am married to a complete and utter stranger!"

"I know the feeling," Lex said dryly.

"Oh, are you married?" Clark asked curiously.

"Not at present," Lex said, deciding not to elaborate. "So tell me, Clark, why come to me?"

"My dad's apparently dead," Clark said, looking shocked, "and my mother is off in Europe. She's a Senator, Lex!"

"I was aware of this," Lex said matter-of-factly.

"I don't have Pete's address and I'm closer to you than to Chloe," Clark explained.

"What about Lana?" Lex wondered. If he was supposed to be closer to Clark than Chloe then this must have been before his father's bail hearing.

Clark looked awkward. "Well…I'm not sure what happened there but apparently it didn't work out. I don't know where we stand."

"Why don't you tell me what the last thing you remember is," Lex invited, trying to ignore how surreal it was that Clark had chosen to come to him for once with the truth.

Clark nodded. "Well, we had just gotten the cure for all the people who had been infected with the Nicodemus flower."

That was…that was way back at the beginning. In fact, it might have even been…

"Clark, was this before the tornado?" Lex inquired.

"There hasn't been any tornadoes since you moved to Smallville," Clark confirmed. "Please tell me that you believe me because I don't know what I'll do if you don't."

"Don't worry," Lex said smoothly. "I believe you."

Of course he believed Clark. The man was an alien, after all, and they'd both lived in Smallville for too long to doubt something like a reverse Peggy Sue experience. The question was, what could he do with it? He could try to kill Clark now since he would never see it coming and Lex had no idea how long this would last. And that, of course, was assuming that it really was Clark from the past inhabiting his future self's body and not just Clark having amnesia. Still, if Clark was right about this then he knew exactly how he wanted to play this.

"Then…we're not…" Clark trailed off uncertainly.

"Not what, Clark?" Lex asked innocently.

"When I mentioned you this morning, Lois – that's my wife, apparently – said that we didn't get along," Clark informed him.

And yet Clark was here anyway. So this truly was him from the days before he started believing random strangers over Lex. He'd almost forgotten that there had been days like that.

"What makes you think that we don't get along?" Lex asked him. "Sure, the articles that you and Lois write are hard-hitting but it's mostly her aggression and you always pull her back from the brink of libel."

"Well, because of…" Clark stopped, looking miserable.

"Because of Superman," Lex supplied.

Clark's head jolted up, his eyes hopeful. "Then you know?"

"Of course I know," Lex said, sounding insulted. "Why wouldn't I know?"

"Lois said that you and Superman are mortal enemies," Clark explained.

"Clark, I would never condescend myself to be mortal enemies with anyone who dresses like Superman does," Lex sniffed.

"But Lois said you call Superman an alien menace every time he comes up in conversation," Clark said unhappily.

And yet Clark was still here. Clark had had faith in him once. It was surreal.

"That's just a part of our plan," Lex said dismissively.

"Plan?" Clark repeated blankly.

Lex nodded. "Of course. As Superman, you're capable of dealing with villains of a higher caliber than the other members of the Justice League. Brainiac, Zod, Livewire, Atomic Skull, Morgan Edge, Hank Henshaw, Silver Banshee, Kryptonite Man, Titano, Mister Mxyzptlk, Doomsday, Bizarro, Mongul, Faora, Atlas, Parasite, Lobo, Bloodsport, Gog, Darkseid, Solomon Grundy, Prankster, Bruno Mannheim and his Intergang, Toyman, Jax-Ur, Metallo, Superboy-Prime, Ultra-Humanite, Ultraman…"

"Th-those are all people who want to kill me?" Clark asked, horrified.

"Just the important ones," Lex said innocently. "They're not around all the time but, as you can see, you're really very busy. Combined with stopping the occasional mugging and dealing with natural disasters around the world, is it any wonder that we decided to scare some minor villains off by pretending that I was your archenemy and wouldn't tolerate interlopers?"

"I just don't understand why we'd do that," Clark said, biting his lip. "Why pretend you were evil when you weren't?"

"It's actually rather amusing to play the villain," Lex admitted. "And it's not like I'm the only one pretending; do you really think 'Clark Kent, Daily Planet reporter' is anything like the Clark Kent that I knew in Smallville? No, you're playing a role just the same as I am. It was actually my idea to play the villain, Clark."

Well, sort of. He'd finally admitted it to himself and decided to stop fighting fate once it became clear that no one was ever going to believe anything else anyway and that even his father had managed to convince more people that he was a good man than Lex ever had. Sometimes, enough is really enough.

"What about the rest of it?" Clark wondered. "What about Lois and the Daily Planet and Superman and everything?"

"Lois Lane is actually Chloe's cousin," Lex revealed. "You met her after Chloe had to fake her death after my father tried to kill her to prevent her from testifying and sending him to prison." Seeing the look on Clark's face, he quickly added, "Long story. She's fine. You decided working at a newspaper would be a good way to keep an eye on the news and later to help control what they release about your alter ego. Superman came about because eventually it got to the point where you couldn't just ignore people suffering but you also couldn't openly save people or risk revealing yourself. Metropolis is a lot different than Smallville."

"And where do you fit into all of this, Lex?" Clark asked him. "How did you come to agree to be my enemy?"

Here was where Lex was going to have to twist the truth so much that it would be absolutely unrecognizable. "I found out your secret when you saved me from Morgan Edge running me over. Unfortunately, I was also being drugged by my father at the time to simulate a mental break and so was promptly sent to Belle Reve and given electro-shock therapy to make me forget that my father had his parents murdered for the insurance money. I didn't forget everything, though, and I remembered about you."

"And how did you react?" Clark asked nervously.

"We talked about it, you apologized for keeping it a secret for so long, and I told you that I understood now what a huge secret it was for you to keep," Lex lied. "I had previously just thought you were another meteor mutant, albeit a sane one. That's still not something you want just anybody to know but far less dangerous information than being an alien."

"I'm glad you understand," Clark said, relieved.

"Clark, I want you to know something," Lex said seriously. "You didn't choose to tell me when you did finally tell me. You just saw that I would die unless you revealed your powers to me and so made your choice then. Just the same, you can trust me. If you returned to your time and told me immediately, I wouldn't betray you. Just trust me with your secret and I can help you become a hero."

Clark was quiet for a moment. "That means a lot."

It looked like he was buying it. Lex had always been a good actor. Past-him would never have dreamed of selling Clark out and if he got a chance to actually be trusted like he had deserved to be than that was better than any victory here and now. But just to make it more convincing…

"Pete found out about you during your sophomore year of high school," Lex continued. "He felt the pressure keenly and eventually moved away with his mother when his parents got a divorce but that seems more the weight of being your only secret-keeper besides your parents than anything else. Telling him when others know should make it easier."

Clark nodded. "I figured I could trust Pete."

"Chloe and Lana can also be trusted. Chloe found out your senior year of high school and kept the secret for months waiting for you to tell her and when Lana eventually found out she kept your secret faithfully and didn't look at you differently for it," Lex informed him. "Maybe you might want to wait awhile with Lana until what's-his-name is out of the picture but don't wait too long or you'll have too many 'secrets and lies' between you."

"Really?" Clark couldn't believe it, this time in a good way. "That…that would be amazing."

"I know your parents are concerned about you telling anyone and they have a right to be but you can trust us, Clark," Lex said earnestly.

"I will," Clark promised. "The minute I figure out how to get back, I'll tell you everything."

Lex smiled. Exactly as planned.

"Perhaps you'd like some help getting home?"

He'd always preferred to make his own destiny anyway.


	2. Chapter 2

If Lex could be believed then today was the day he returned to normal. He hadn't always known whether or not he could trust Lex – well, with his secret at least – but he had most certainly proven himself these last four days. When he had first woken up in the body of his future self (assuming that's what happened. According to Lex, he could just have amnesia but he wouldn't know for sure until he tried going home), he had absolutely freaked out.

Lois was the only one he'd talked to before going to see Lex but it was frankly a miracle that she hadn't thought he'd been exposed to Kryptonite. Kryptonite, that was what the meteor rocks were called now. They were exploded pieces of his home planet, Krypton. And green wasn't even the only color. Green, he knew what they did and he could deal with them. Red, though, took away all his morals and caused him to be reckless. Blue might actually come in handy since while in contact with it it made him seem to be just a normal human. Gold took away his powers permanently and if it weren't for the fact that he had already tried that and so he was quite sure that he'd never get anywhere on time, would never be able to run the farm, and would get himself quickly killed then he'd find that very tempting.

And then there was the artificial Kryptonite! Black split someone in two with yin and yang personalities. Gemstone Kryptonite seemed to give him powers of persuasion and something about gaining wish-fulfilling properties. Silver Kryptonite would make him paranoid and that was a disaster just waiting to happen. Clear Kryptonite was the best kind because that meant it was neutralized.

All of that to remember, all of that to encounter. He was really lucky that Lex had given him the spoilers on his own future. Some things might have been disastrous to know, but basic things like Kryptonite would only help him. Trusting Lex really was turning out to be a godsend and he was glad that his future self had finally decided to take the plunge and tell him.

"Hey, Lois, I was wondering about something," Clark said slowly. In the past four days, Clark had gotten to know his future wife a little better though the fact he was supposed to be married to her kind of freaked him out. She was very pretty, yes, and quite a bit like Chloe with her spunk and determination. He was pretty sure that he liked her but right now his heart still belonged to Lana so it was a bit of a weird situation.

His future self must trust her a great deal if he actually married her and he knew he would never marry anyone who didn't know his secret but he hadn't told her about his time travelling because he wanted to keep that news as contained as possible and everyone who knew just made it more likely it would somehow leak out. And then, of course, there was the fact that he just hated telling people things in general and he was trying to build up the courage to tell the people of his own time about him. In the long run, it didn't matter if Lois knew about these past four days.

"What's that?" Lois asked, taking a bite out of her muffin. If she had noticed the fact that Clark had quite pointedly been out patrolling at night so he wouldn't have to deal with any…marital issues he certainly wasn't ready for then she didn't say anything. Though obviously it must be possible to do it safely without hurting a human (perhaps with the Blue Kryptonite?), he didn't know any of the details and Lois just wasn't Lana.

"What do you think about the idea of telling someone your secret because you somehow stumbled across knowledge that they knew in the future and were fine with it?" Clark inquired.

To his surprise, Lois laughed. "Considering that's what convinced you to finally tell me your secret – not that I didn't mostly already know – I'd say that I'm just fine with it. I would have liked it if you could have told me before seeing that I would do anything to protect you but I understand. Every time you tell someone is a chance that you'll be rejected or the information will be used to hurt you."

Since he'd learned from Lex that he hadn't even met Lois until his senior year of high school and it took them a few years to get around to dating, it would seem that he'd never gotten better at telling people. But then, who had he ever told? Kyle, sort of, and he was a recluse. Cassandra had died as had Phelan who had found out on his own.

"So if I were to get more future evidence of someone reacting just fine to my secret, you think I should go ahead and tell them?" Clark asked, just to make sure.

Lois nodded. "Absolutely. Well…as long as you know them well enough to not be surprised by this information. People can change, you know. If I had known that you had powers a few years earlier, I probably never would have gone out with you. I'm fine with being Superman's wife now but I just couldn't handle dating a superhero back then. Maybe if you just meet someone they'd sell you out but if they were closer to you then they'd keep it a secret."

Clark nodded. That made sense. Pete's loyalty had never been in doubt; they'd had each other's backs for ages. He might be annoyed both that Clark had never told him and that he was dumping it on him now but he'd never tell. Chloe's wall of weird had freaked him out and she was always so eager to report all about the 'freaks of the week' – as she called them – in the Torch. This made her the biggest gamble but she had also seen Eric as a hero and she was his friend who had apparently kept his secret for years.

Lex could clearly be trusted as he was being so incredible now and that really didn't surprise him. Lex may be investigating the accident but he had also proven time and time again that he'd do anything for a friend. As for Lana…their friendship was really taking off this year. He knew – or thought he knew – that she wanted to be with him just as much as he wanted to be with her but with Whitney's father…but he wouldn't be dependent on her forever. When he'd asked Lex about Whitney, he said something about him joining the military. That showed moving on, right? She may not have believed in Kyle and she may have had her parents killed by the meteors but it was never a question of trust when it came to Lana. He just knew that she could be trusted. He hadn't wanted to burden her, though, or for her to think that he was a freak but he'd been assured that she wouldn't.

Since Lex seemed to have all the answers, Clark sort of cheated but asking him if his future self had ever managed to get over or at least lessen the guilt of the meteor shower being all his fault. Lex had promptly rolled his eyes, pointed out that it wasn't Clark's fault that his planet blew up, insisted that the meteors would have still fallen if his ship hadn't been there, and pointed out that Lana never would have made it to her sixteenth birthday without Clark constantly rescuing her from her stalkers. It took awhile, but Lex had been persistent and eventually he got the picture. Besides, Superman was clearly saving far more people than the meteors had hurt so if nothing else there was always that.

He stayed in the apartment he shared with Lois for a few more minutes before taking off and heading to Lex's lab. Now, the very thought of being in a lab had featured in too many of his nightmares not to freak him out but he knew that he had to do this. It was the only way to get home and he couldn't fool people forever. It was actually pretty miraculous he'd manage to fool them for this long. He'd never been the best liar around.

"Are you ready for this?" Lex asked the minute Clark, in full Superman regalia to protect his identity at Lex's insistence, arrived.

"I guess so," Clark said, nodding. "Do you have any idea why I can fly now? I definitely couldn't fly before."

Lex spread his hands out. "It might be just a matter of not knowing how to. You should be able to test that out when you try to fly upon your return. Or it might be a matter of that power just not having developed yet. You said your invulnerability grew stronger in time and that your X-ray vision developed your freshman year."

Clark nodded. He kind of hoped he could fly, actually. It wasn't something he could do where anyone could see him, of course, until he adopted the mantle of Superman but he knew that Lex would get a big kick out of it. "Listen, I just wanted to thank you for what you've done for me these past few days. I guess my future self must really trust you and so this isn't so much of a big deal for you but for me…thank you."

Lex smiled at him. "It's really no trouble. Just remember that all I ever wanted was to help you become a hero. Trust me to help you do that and we'll be the stuff of legends."

Clark rolled his eyes good-naturedly. "Always you with your legends. Is there anything you do that doesn't have to be epic?"

Lex laughed. "Why settle?"

"It's ready," one of the scientists announced. "Just step through that portal and if you truly are from a different time, it should send you back and leave your present – or in your case, future – consciousness in control."

Clark nervously took a deep breath. "This is it."

"You'll be fine," Lex encouraged him. "I promise."

Clark nodded and, without another word, stepped through the portal.

\----

Clark opened his eyes. He was in his own bed in his own room and he was most certainly not forty. It had worked. He really had been sucked into the future and hadn't just gotten amnesia.

A quick look at his alarm clock showed that it was the day that he thought it was. That only left one question: was what he had seen and experienced those four days from the future actually his future or just a dream? He thought it seemed far longer than the few hours he was asleep but time didn't really have the same progression in dreams.

He'd know if the dream was true if anyone ever told him his planet was called Krypton or he ran into different kinds of Kryptonite. He did quite like the name Kryptonite either way and so he'd probably start calling them that. Every time he called them 'meteor rocks' instead of 'meteorites' Lex started twitching anyway.

Well, he didn't want to wait that long and it might be too late to get things off on the right foot with Lana anyway and when Pete found out on his own he'd feel all the same pressure that drove him out of Smallville in the first place. It made sense that the more people knew the secret, the easier it was for them to keep it as they could confide in each other and talk about it amongst themselves. Plus Lex had said something about how Chloe could get in serious trouble and almost get herself killed by his father if didn't tell her by the end of sophomore year, although he claimed to not know the details.

Clark knew that what he should do was tell his parents that he was thinking of telling his friends but he also knew what they would say. They would both be firmly against it because the minute people started to know, people could reject or betray him. Even just telling Pete meant that it was possible someone could get it from him, even if he would never willingly tell that secret. His mother would handle the idea better than his father who would probably prefer it if Clark told the entire freshman class over him telling Lex.

Well, Clark had only met Mr. Luthor once but he'd been willing to let his own son die in order to save face for his company and not admit to Level 3 so Lex clearly wasn't anything like him, no matter what his father thought.

No, it was really best to just tell everyone and present it to his parents as a fait accompli.

He decided that it would be best to tell them all at once and there would be no better place than the Fortress of Solitude where he knew that they wouldn't be overheard or interrupted.

His hand shook slightly as he reached for the phone. He was really going to do this.


	3. Chapter 3

Lana was the last one to show up, which was ironic as she was the only one who lived close enough to walk. Pete and Chloe must have been hanging out because they showed up together and Lex was the very first to arrive which really didn't surprise him in the slightest.

"Okay, care to explain why you invited us to your barn?" Chloe inquired. "I mean, the five of us don't really hang out together as a group. Ever."

Pete kept stealthily glaring at Lex whenever he thought Clark wasn't looking but, with his senses, of course he'd notice. Lex for his part seemed a little wary of Pete as well but given that very recently Pete had just tried to kill Lex – even if he couldn't remember it – that was hardly a surprise.

"I have an announcement to make," Clark explained. It was ridiculous. He'd already made his decision to tell and had already known that even if there was an initial negative reaction that they'd be fine with what he had to tell them. Still, he just didn't want to actually say the words. That was why he had decided to tell all four of them at once, even though that would make it more complicated and Pete couldn't stand Lex. This way he'd only have to say it once.

"An announcement?" Pete repeated. "You sound like the principle."

"As you may or may not be aware, I have a secret," Clark informed them.

"You do?" Lana asked him, sounding surprised.

"Really?" Lex asked, clearly far less surprised.

"This is off the record, right?" Chloe asked rhetorically.

"Now, you are the four people that I trust more than anyone except my parents and so I've decided to tell you my secret," Clark explained. "Unfortunately, my secret is rather huge and life-changing. Once you know, you can never un-know. I want you to be absolutely sure that you can handle it before I tell you."

"Why are you looking at me?" Pete demanded suspiciously.

"No reason," Clark said innocently.

"Wouldn't it be kind of hard to tell if we can handle whatever it is before we know what it is?" Lana inquired. "I mean, say that Whitney said he had a huge secret and I thought I could handle it but it wasn't something handle-able like him planning on, I don't know, join the military or something but he was secretly a serial killer."

"I do wonder what it says about you that someone has a secret and you immediately think 'serial killer'," Lex told her, shaking his head.

"That wasn't the first thing I thought of!" Lana claimed. "That was just the first example of a secret that I wouldn't be able to handle. For the record, Clark, if you are a serial killer then I don't think I could handle that but I do think that you should go to the police and seek help."

"Thanks Lana," Clark said dryly. "Should I ever decide to lose my mind and start murdering people, I'll be sure to keep that in mind."

"Preferably before you actually kill anyone," Lana added.

"Clark, is there your way of telling us that you're gay?" Chloe asked seriously.

Clark choked. "What? Of course not." He cast a panicked glance at Lana. "Seriously, seriously not gay. Could not be less gay."

"It's okay, I believe you," Lana assured him.

"If you're going to go around telling people that you've known for far less time than me your secret then I absolutely want to know it, too," Pete said stubbornly.

"So…what?" Clark asked. "Everybody wants to know?"

The four of them nodded.

"Alright. Last night I somehow ended up in my future body," Clark explained.

"Like a reverse Peggy Sue," Lex said, nodding.

"I've never actually seen that movie but sure," Clark said, shrugging.

"I have," Lana told him. "It's really cute. There's this woman named Peggy Sue who goes to her high school reunion and somehow ends up reliving a few days from her senior year of high school."

"I guess it would be a reverse Peggy Sue then," Clark agreed. "Since I was living in Metropolis and Lex was the only other person I felt that I could trust living there, I went to him with my problem and he helped me get home."

"So…your secret is that you had an experience that may or may not have just been a dream and it only took place last night?" Chloe asked skeptically. "I'm pretty sure that there was something…off about you before then."

"There is," Clark confirmed. "It's just that Lex proved that he was trustworthy and knew my secret and he assured me that you three were as well."

"So you're only telling us because you already know that we can be trusted," Lex realized. "You aren't willing to take a leap of faith but you've been provided with proof now."

"It…sounds kind of bad when you put it that way but according to the future you and I ended up telling you all eventually anyway. It just wasn't quite this soon," Clark said defensively.

"Do I at least find out before Lex does?" Pete demanded.

Clark managed a grin at that. "Yes, Pete. If I didn't decide to tell you all now, you would have been the first to know."

"Well that's alright then," Pete said, mollified.

"You haven't actually told us anything yet," Chloe pointed out.

"We can see right here and now if it was a dream or not," Clark declared. "Chloe, in my dream you had a cousin named Lois Lane. Now, I've never heard of her so you'll have to tell me if this is true."

"I do," Chloe admitted. "And I really don't think I've ever mentioned her to you."

"Well, there you have it. Does anybody have any guesses?" Clark asked, trying to pretend that he wasn't totally stalling.

"Well, since you're asking and thus probably won't bite my head off…meteor mutant," Chloe said firmly.

Lex nodded. "I would have to agree with Chloe. I can understand why you wouldn't tell us since most of the meteor mutants we've encountered have turned violent but we know you're not like that."

Pete rolled his eyes. "Not more about the meteors!"

"You…think that meteors can mutate people?" Lana asked uncertainly, no doubt concerned about her necklace.

"The evidence is piling up," Chloe replied. "All the people we run into who get strange powers were all here during the meteor shower and it's the only explanation I've come up with for why this seems to be a uniquely Smallville phenomenon."

"Do you think that I might have some sort of mutation? I mean, I was really close to the meteors and I wore one around my neck for ages," Lana said worriedly.

Chloe shrugged. "I haven't seen any evidence of it so far but meteor mutation seems to mostly happen after puberty and during times of stress. Aside from the almost supernatural ability to make people love you, I'm not sure I could see anything that could be a power."

Lana nodded but still looked a little concerned.

"You're right about the meteors and wrong about me," Clark told her. "The meteors are apparently called Kryptonite in the future because they are pieces of the planet Krypton."

"How could parts of a planet have been a meteor shower here?" Lana inquired.

Clark winced. "Krypton…kind of blew up. But before it did, Jor-El and his wife Lara sent their baby son away from the planet to protect him."

It clicked with Lex first. "You."

"Me," Clark agreed softly. "I'm told my Kryptonian name is Kal-El but…I'd really rather not be called that."

There was a silence as the four attempted to digest all of this.

"Does this mean that I hit you with my car?" Lex asked finally.

Clark hid a smile. Future Lex had warned him that that would probably be his first reaction.

"Yes, Lex," Clark replied, knowing just how important his admission was but not really understanding why. "You did hit me with your car. If I were a normal person, we'd both be dead."

"Well I'm not one to begrudge a man who saved my life his…eccentricities," Lex declared.

"Dude, I can't believe you've been an alien all this time and you never told me!" Pete complained. "I told you all of my secrets!"

"In my defense, I think being an alien is a bit bigger of a deal than that one time in second grade when-" Clark started to say.

"Okay, you know what, you might be right," Pete hastily interrupted him.

"And besides, my parents never actually told me that I was an alien until the day that Lex ran me over," Clark continued. "They said they were worried that I would let it slip when I was younger. Who knows if they would have ever gotten around to telling me if Lex hadn't thoughtfully forced the issue?"

"I do what I can," Lex said dryly. "I wonder if that plays any part in your father not liking me..."

"Actually, I found out that it's not so much you he doesn't like as your father," Clark explained.

"I already knew that," Lex replied.

"But I don't think you're aware of just why he hates your father so much," Clark told him.

Lex blinked. "You mean the fact that he's him isn't enough?"

"The day of the meteor shower, my parents apparently drove by your father right after they found me and my spaceship. They stopped to help him and took you both to the hospital. If it's worth anything, apparently he was very upset. Your father promised to repay my parents somehow and my parents were forced to cash in that favor when it came to getting me legally – sort of – adopted," Clark revealed.

"I'll just bet he was," Lex murmured.

"That doesn't really sound like a motive to hate Mr. Luthor," Chloe said slowly. "Far from it, in fact. You'd think they'd be grateful. Or does your dad just not want to have to think about the fact he had to break the law to do this?"

"It's more…" Clark sighed and glanced Pete's way. "Apparently even this debt repayment had strings attached and Mr. Luthor threatened to alert the government about the fraudulent certificate if my father didn't convince Pete's dad to sell the factory. If Mr. Luthor did that then not only would my parents have lost me but I probably would have ended up in a lab somewhere."

Nervously, he waited for Pete's reaction.

"So basically what your saying is that this all can be traced back to Lex?" Pete asked, glowering at Lex.

"If you want to be completely unreasonable and blame the small child in a coma, by all means," Lex countered.

"Wouldn't it be more my fault since if it hadn't been for my parents' need to protect me then Lex's father wouldn't have had any leverage to use on my dad?" Clark asked.

Pete sighed. "Clark, there's never any point in blaming anything on you. Ever. It can even be your fault and there's still no point."

"What do you mean?" Clark asked, bewildered.

"You literally blame everything bad that has ever happened to anyone you know on yourself," Pete pointed out. "Tell me you don't blame yourself for the meteor shower."

"I don't," Clark said triumphantly. "…Anymore."

"Anymore?" Lana asked, frowning. "What do you mean? Why would that be your fault?"

"Since it was the pieces of my planet that came raining down on Smallville and I arrived with them I blamed myself ever since I found out," Clark explained. "Lex didn't think that that made any sense and took the time to convince me otherwise."

"I'm glad that I was able to help," Lex said sincerely.

"Chloe? Lana? You guys haven't really given me any reaction," Clark said worriedly.

"I…really don't know what to say," Lana admitted. "You were born on another planet, what does that even mean? You're still the same you that you've always been and me knowing that won't change anything. My parents were going to die whether you came down too or not and for what it's worth…I'm glad you did."

Clark blushed and felt a smile forming on his face. "Thanks, Lana. You have no idea how much that means to me."

"To be honest, I'm a little bummed that the biggest scoop I've ever gotten can't even be published," Chloe admitted.

Clark tensed at that. Chloe had always been a journalist at heart and she'd written all about Eric, for all that he loved the attention.

"Oh, don't give me that look," she said, rolling her eyes. "You're my friend, Clark. I'd never expose you. Although I am curious what being an alien actually means in practical terms. Are you just a human born on another planet or are there differences?"

"There are some differences," Clark admitted. "For one thing, I'm deathly allergic to Kryptonite and that's why I always tripped whenever I was around Lana."

"If that's what you choose to believe," Chloe said, clearly not accepting that answer.

"Krypton has a red sun and I get my powers from our yellow sun," Clark continued.

Pete started snickering. "I just realized that that makes you solar-powered!"

Clark rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah. As of right now, I have super strength, super speed, near-invulnerability-"

"What do you mean 'near' invulnerability?" Lex interrupted.

"Well, I've been shot before but as long as no Kryptonite is around, I just get bruises," Clark explained. "I think that in the future they won't even do that much."

Still, Lex wasn't satisfied. "And how exactly did you happen to discover this?"

"It really doesn't matter," Clark said quickly.

Lex must have seen something in his face because he rubbed his forehead. "Clark, did I shoot you at some point? Possibly when Bob Rickman was influencing me?"

"Maybe?" Clark admitted. "A little? It really wasn't your fault."

"I could have killed you," Lex said flatly, refusing to let himself off the hook so easily.

"Yeah, you could have," Pete agreed, crossing his arms.

"If I were the type to be killed so easily I'd have been dead the first time we met," Clark said dismissively.

"Clark, I know you're trying to help but that doesn't make it better," Chloe informed him.

"It doesn't matter, okay?" Clark said, wishing he could have been more convincing. There was a reason he hadn't told Lex he had even shot at him even though he couldn't have admitted to being hit. "I also have X-Ray vision."

"X-Ray?" Lana repeated. "Like 'let me give you an X-Ray to see if you broke something'?"

Clark nodded. "Exactly like that."

"Whenever I go to the dentist and get X-Rays they put a lead apron on me," Lana mused. "Does lead block your X-Ray vision, too, or does it work differently?"

"I can't see through lead," Clark confirmed. "And Kryptonite can't affect me through lead, either."

"The reason people give you lead aprons is to keep you safe from the radiation," Chloe remarked. "Is your X-Ray vision safe for the people you see through?"

"I…don't know," Clark admitted. "I'm assuming so. I'm not actually firing radiation at anyone, just changing how I look at them."

"So is that it?" Lex inquired. "Super speed, super strength, the ability to take a bullet like a punch, and X-Ray vision?"

Clark nodded. "For now, yes, though in the future I apparently have the ability to fly, heat vision, and the ability to erase someone's memory with a kiss."

"You realize that you've probably had to use it on guys before, right? If you really needed them to forget something?" Pete said, trying to be serious.

Clark made a face. "I'm trying not to think about it."

"Must be some kiss," Chloe said wistfully. She coughed. "I mean, how does that even work?"

Clark shrugged. "I don't know. And I also don't want to know how I happened to discover that. It certainly must have made things awkward. And I hope I didn't erase too much…"

"So what do you do with these gifts in the future?" Lex asked before Clark could spend too much time angsting. "You don't strike me as the type to just ignore the problems around you. I mean, look how many times you've saved us already."

"In the future I…well, you know those Warrior Angel comics you like?" Clark inquired.

Lex nodded. "Yes but I didn't know that you did."

"Future you mentioned it," Clark explained, "when he was explaining our situation to me. There are apparently lots of real-life superheroes in the future and several of them formed a 'Justice League.' Batman, Wonder Woman, the Flash…and me. Superman."

"I'm going to hope that you didn't come up with the name," Chloe said, whistling.

"Actually, Chloe, I was told that you did," Clark replied. "And I had all sorts of enemies with really bizarre names like 'Brainiac' and 'Mister Mxyzptlk' and 'Gog.' Lex said that there would have been more if he and I hadn't been pretending to be enemies."

The four of them exchanged a glance.

Finally, Lana said, "Perhaps you should tell us just a little bit more about this future of yours, Clark…"


	4. Chapter 4

"Like what?" Clark asked them. "I mean, I was only there for a couple of days but Lex seemed determined that I get as much information as possible and I wasn't there the whole time so I learned a lot just by flying around. Here in Smallville, we really only see those who have gained power from Kryptonite but in the future we'll be seeing lots of people who have powers for completely different reasons. The Green Lanterns have their rings, J'onn is a Martian, Wonder Woman is from Themyscira, the Flash was in a freak accident…"

"How about you tell us some more about us?" Lana suggested. "Do we grow up to be the kind of people that we can be proud of or should we be grateful for this opportunity to rethink our future plans?"

"Well…this might sound a little jealous but I swear that I'm only trying to protect you by telling you this information," Clark began. "Whitney is a decent boyfriend, Lana, but some of your future ones…not so much. Ian Randall sophomore year gets the ability to duplicate himself and dates both you and Chloe at the same time before trying to kill you both because…well, he's crazy and he didn't want to get caught. That wasn't really a serious relationship, though."

"He cheats on me and tries to kill me, too?" Chloe complained. "That's not good and I already had to deal with Sean. Tell me I don't have as many psycho ex's as Lana does."

Clark looked awkwardly at her. "We'll get to you in a minute. This next one might be the most messed up one. You apparently got trampled by a horse at some point – I don't know the details – and are sent to physical therapy junior year where you meet Adam Knight. Unfortunately, he's actually the reanimated corpse of someone named Chad who died of liver disease and was sent to spy on you although I'm not actually sure why. Mr. Luthor was apparently behind it."

"My father doesn't need a reason to screw with people," Lex informed them.

Pete snorted. "I can't believe I'm actually going to say this but…I agree with Lex."

"Do I ever date anyone who isn't insane?" Lana demanded.

"Well Whitney was never insane," Clark pointed out. "And we date a few times before…but let's get back to this. Lex pays for you to go to Paris after junior year and you meet this guy, Jason Teague. He comes back with you and coaches football and he seems like a really great guy at first. Unfortunately, he decides that he's crazy and evil at the worst possible moment when another meteor shower comes down right after our graduation and I think he was crushed by a meteor."

"So I end up with a two-timing murderous cheater, a zombie, and someone who turns evil for no apparent reason," Lana said flatly. "Please tell me that that's the end of them."

"That's the end of them as far as I know," Clark confirmed. "But you know that I'm working from second-hand information here."

"What about us?" Lana asked him curiously. "You said that we dated a few times?"

Clark nodded. "We did, according to Lex. He said that the reason our relationship kept failing was that I didn't want you to think that I was a freak so I never told you my secret and the lies became too much."

"I could never think that you were a freak!" Lana exclaimed. "I've known you my entire life and all you ever want to do is help people. There's nothing freakish about that, no matter where you come from."

Clark smiled shyly at her. "Thank you. I'd like to think that I did come to realize that soon enough but it's just…Lana, I'm not sure if you've noticed it yet but you will. A good third or so of the meteor mutants that turn violent or will turn violent are obsessed with you and as such you aren't really fond of them which worried me."

"Even if that's true and they do keep coming after me for whatever reason, I know that you're not like that and you never will be," Lana said firmly.

"I know," Clark told her earnestly. "So I'm sorry that I never trusted you."

"Just so we're clear, Clark is now apologizing for something that's never happened?" Chloe asked.

"It's Lana," Pete said as if that explained everything.

"Another reason was that I wanted to protect you but you can protect yourself just fine, especially once you take those martial arts classes," Clark told her. "Tragically, we were finally permanently separated when you were dosed with Kryptonite which didn't hurt you or anybody else at all but made your physical presence enough to kill me."

"W-what?" Lana sputtered. "How could something like that happen?"

Clark shrugged. "I really don't know. Lex said it was some kind of freak accident and I hope that never happens because I don't think I could stand the prospect of being separated from you forever. I, uh, value your friendship too much for that."

Lana smiled back at him. "Me, too."

"So I think that just about covers everything," Clark said slowly before snapping his fingers. "No, wait. There was the witchcraft thing."

"Witchcraft?" Lex repeated. "Aliens and mutants I can believe but now we're throwing witchcraft into the equation? Is there anything that isn't real?"

"After the things I heard about and saw, I really don't feel comfortable guaranteeing anything isn't true," Clark said, grinning.

"So at some point I run into witches?" Lana inquired. "That…does not sound good."

"You actually end up possessed by one," Clark corrected her, wincing. "While in Paris, stay away from the tomb of Countess Margaret Isobel Thoreaux. She was apparently your ancestor and visiting there and then touching Isobel's spellbook causes her to possess you all year until she eventually murders Jason's mother. I guess Jason's ancestors had Isobel burned at the stake or something. It's all quite odd. People should really let these things go after hundreds of years."

"Maybe Paris isn't the best place for me to spend time in after all," Lana said, looking stunned. "I mean, it just screams 'bad idea.' Maybe London, if I ever go to Europe."

"That does seem like it would solve all of your problems," Clark agreed. "Or at least a great many of them. And hopefully now that all the secrets are out in the open if we were to ever date it would be less…tumultuous."

"I'm starting to wonder if I should ever date again," Lana said, still stricken. "Men just don't seem to be something I'm going to have much luck with."

"Oh, it's not just men. Tina Greer apparently comes back at one point pretending to be Whitney," Clark offered. "Though that's not until next year. She's in love with you so I'm not sure why she keeps trying to kill you but, well, crazy."

"Should I just never talk to anyone new ever?" Lana demanded. "And not even new because I knew Tina for years!"

"Well, I did hear that you were happily married in the future so it all seems to work out," Clark said lamely.

"To who?" Lana wondered.

"I really shouldn't say," Clark said awkwardly. "It might mess up the future or something and if nothing else it would probably freak you out. I mean, even if I said that you were married to Whitney how would you react to knowing you married your high school boyfriend?"

"Like I reallyneed to live more," Lana confessed.

"Well you seem to live plenty in the future so hang in there," Clark encouraged her. "In fact, Lex said something about you getting superpowers and being a hero at some point though I don't think I ever actually found out how that happened."

"I could really make a difference if I had powers," Lana mused. "I wouldn't be helpless anymore and I could try to stop others from having to feel that way. But still, it's a huge responsibility, isn't it?"

"I'm sure that when the time comes, you'll rise to meet the challenge," Clark said sincerely.

Lana smiled and blushed but said nothing.

"Okay, how about me?" Pete asked eagerly.

"I…don't actually know as much about you as I do about Lana," Clark admitted, embarrassed.

"Big surprise," Chloe muttered.

"Trust me, I'm not going to take that personally," Pete promised. "So what do you know?"

"I don't really know anything about any murderous ex's so apparently your dating life is a bit more successful than Lana's and you, too, are happily married in the future," Clark began.

"How far into the future did you go again?" Pete wanted to know. "It wouldn't do to get married right out of high school, now would it?"

"No, I think you get married awhile after that," Clark told him. "And I went twenty-five years into the future."

Pete whistled. "Twenty-five years, huh? We'd all be forty. Except Lex. He'd be even older."

"Forty-six isn't that much older," Lex protested.

"It's practically fifty," Pete disagreed.

"Fifty isn't that old, really," Lex claimed.

Pete snorted. "I'm sure that will be of great comfort to you when you reach that age. But hey, on the plus side apparently everyone survives for the next twenty-five years! That's quite an accomplishment in Smallville."

"I haven't heard anything about me," Chloe pointed out.

"You survive, too," Clark assured her.

"Good to know," Chloe said brightly.

"That doesn't mean you should trust that you can't die though and take stupid risks!" Clark was quick to add.

"Please," Chloe sniffed, looking insulted. "I never take 'stupid risks.'"

Clark just shook his head. "Apparently it was really hard for you to keep my secret, Pete. You said that you always had to make sure to call them meteor rocks instead of Kryptonite and to cover my quick exits whenever I run off. That's why I wanted to be absolutely sure that you really wanted to know before I told you."

"Well, with Chloe, Lana, and Lex all knowing as well they can help make up excuses and I won't need to lie to them," Pete said, unconcerned.

"How did you know to start calling it Kryptonite, anyway?" Lex inquired.

"A Dr. Virgil Swann contacted me at some point in high school and told me where Krypton was and what it's name was," Clark explained. "I'm not sure exactly when, though."

"Is he trustworthy?" Lex asked immediately. "If he is then maybe we can contact him and speed it up. We could even claim that he discovered the former planet and named it so that, official or not, there's cause to refer to it as Kryptonite."

"It's something we could look into, I guess," Clark said uncertainly. "I'm pretty sure he was trustworthy because I didn't hear anything about him abusing my trust."

"So see? Keeping your secret should be a breeze," Pete said easily.

"I hope so," Clark said worriedly. "Because last time apparently people somehow kept finding out that you knew my secret and kidnapping you and torturing you to find out what it was. You said that you didn't think you could stay in Smallville and both stay alive and keep my secret so at the earliest possible opportunity, you left and didn't look back. You and Chloe still kept in touch but since you left because of me and then started blaming the burden of my secrets on anything that went wrong in your life, we didn't really keep in touch. Although I am told that we reconnected a few years down the line."

"Damn," Pete swore. "I guess I really let you down, huh?"

"Never!" Clark said fiercely. "You never told anyone my secret and when you left it was just as much about protecting me as it was about protecting yourself. I was the reason you were in danger in the first place. You never asked to be burdened by my secret."

"Well, yeah, but this time I did," Pete pointed out. "And this time is what matters. And you're my best friend and that was a really crappy thing to do."

"You could always not do it," Lana suggested. "Just like how I'm probably just going to go join a convent or something."

"If it makes you feel any better, you were a senator in the future," Clark informed him. "You and my mom."

"Your mom?" Chloe couldn't believe it. "Good for her. How'd your dad take it?"

"Apparently my mother got into political office when my father ran for state senator and won but then suffered a fatal heart attack and so my mother took his seat and then when a US senator died she took his seat," Clark said hollowly.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" Chloe said, looking horrified.

"Don't be," Clark said, forcing a smile. "I don't know how far this is in the future and you had no way of knowing. Besides, I heard that a good way to avoid that would be not running off to Metropolis and forcing my dad to kept powers his body can't handle from the insane and probably evil AI of my dead biological father and then getting rid of my powers and dying causing said AI to bring me back to life at the cost of someone I loved a few months later."

"You have an insane and probably evil AI of your dead biological father?" Lex repeated incredulously.

Clark shrugged. "So I've been told. I haven't actually met him but I'm really not looking forward to it, you know? Some of the things he did…enabling my mother to get pregnant then causing a miscarriage when I didn't leave Smallville forever, erasing my memories, abducting a teenage girl the day of the meteor shower and brainwashing her so she'd think she was my cousin…he actually kind of reminds me of Lex's dad."

"I can confirm that my father is, indeed, insane and probably evil," Lex offered.

"The best part is is that in the future we apparently get along fine as all the things he did to me and to others, which I'm sure qualify as child abuse, were all a part of my 'trials' so I would be ready to…well, he said 'be a superhero' but apparently for years he'd been giving me the impression he wanted me to take over the world so who really knows? He's crazy, too," Clark said bitterly.

"He and my dad really would get along," Lex said, nodding.

"Supposedly he uses your father as a vessel in the future and this actually makes him a semi-good person," Clark informed him.

"Okay, this I have to hear," Lex said flatly. "Were you done telling Pete about his future?"

Clark nodded. "Just about, I think. Okay, I don't know very much about that but it all starts when your father is sent to prison for the murder of his parents…"


	5. Chapter 5

There was a stunned silence.

"My father murdered his parents?" Lex asked, shocked. "I…really shouldn't be so surprised, I don't think. I've spent enough years around him to know what he's capable of. But still. Why would he even do that?"

"He needed the insurance money to start up LuthorCorp, him and Morgan Edge who is apparently some underworld criminal," Clark answered.

"If he's willing to kill his own parents…Do you have any idea how I manage to get my hands on this information?" Lex demanded.

"I don't actually know how you find this out," Clark admitted. "But be careful. When your father finds out that you know, he decides to drug your scotch to simulate a psychotic break and then sends you to Bell Reve where he uses electroshock therapy to erase the last seven weeks of your life."

"I…don't really know what to say to that," Lex admitted.

"You eventually find the information again and manage to get your father put in prison," Clark continued. "But after Chloe, you, and I testify at his bail hearing, I was kidnapped by the AI and gone all summer and your father attempted to kill both you and Chloe."

"Why kill me?" Chloe couldn't believe it. "I've met Mr. Luthor, like, once."

"He apparently moves to Smallville at some point to both investigate the strange happenings here and to annoy Lex," Clark explained. "And you manage to get your hands on a drug that forces everyone – except me – to tell you the truth and you get a confession from Mr. Luthor on tape. Lex survived because he has accelerated healing and Chloe's death was faked after the explosion blew up her safe house though I didn't really get the details."

"But he does get sent to prison, right?" Chloe asked, shaken.

"For awhile," Clark agreed. "He has some sort of terminal illness which, when he somehow manages to temporarily switch bodies with me, gets cured and then he decides to try and redeem himself. It doesn't last. Then he tries again and he might have even meant it but I don't know. He gets released from prison somehow and eventually ends up falling out of his LuthorCorp office."

"My father's not exactly the suicidal type," Lex pointed out. "He'd do anything to survive. I suspect foul play."

"You said that there were no witnesses and no evidence so no one really knows what happened," Clark informed him.

"I suppose that anyone who can pull off murdering my father in his own office wouldn't be stupid enough to get caught," Lex said quietly. "Did you happen to catch when this was?"

"Oh, six or seven years in the future, I think," Clark replied. "And who knows? All of this information I'm giving you guys has to change things so maybe even that gets changed."

"If it should be changed," Lex muttered.

Clark looked shocked. "How can you even say that? He's your father!"

"My father who you have just informed me is willing to have me institutionalized," Lex shot back, "for simply finding out about something I'm not supposed to know."

Clark frowned, knowing he was right. "At least he didn't kill you?"

"And it's not like I killed him," Lex said smoothly. "Was there anything else about my father or about anything else that I should know?"

"You did want me to give you a little romantic advice," Clark said awkwardly. "Not romantic advice as in me telling you what I think but as in me relating to you your own advice from the future."

"I wish I could have gotten romantic advice from my future self," Lana murmured.

Clark winced. "Sorry, Lana. I might have asked but I couldn't even see you because of the Kryptonite, remember?"

"No, it's fine," Lana assured him. "I survived somehow and I'm sure I'll survive again. Besides, now there's three less psychos that I'm going to date."

"It does sound like it's from a good source," Lex remarked. "Alright, let me hear it."

"This is probably more for our benefit than for yours since she has super pheromones which allows her to control all men around her – except me, again – but you shouldn't marry Desirée Atkins. Her real name is Allison Sanders and you meet her at some point around the start of my sophomore year on some business trip. She tells you that she's there to save you." Clark made a face to show what he thought of that. "She has a pattern of having someone interested in her kill someone who is standing in the way of her inheriting money and she'll try to get someone to kill you, too."

"Why would I marry her after I knew this?" Lex demanded.

"I don't know for sure that you would because I don't know how strong those pheromones are," Clark explained. "But in case you do, it will be up to Chloe, Lana, and I to deal with her."

"Why not me?" Pete asked, affronted.

"Because you're a male and human and so you'd be just as vulnerable to her as anyone," Clark replied. "And you don't like Lex anyway so she might have an easier time convincing you to kill him."

"Please," Pete scoffed. "Like I'd ever try to kill Lex."

Lex and Clark exchanged knowing glances but said nothing.

"Then you meet Dr. Helen Bryce who I'm going to have to warn my parents not to trust even though for some reason they did last time," Clark said slowly. "She causes a lot of problems. Apparently you met her when you threw up on her or something a few years back in Metropolis after drinking too much. You two get over your bad first impression and started dating. She marries you and then was paid by someone – Morgan Edge, I think – to kill you so she sabotages your honeymoon plane and leaves you stranded on a deserted island all summer. I would have tried to save you but that was the summer I was out of my mind myself and in Metropolis."

"Should I start looking into joining a convent, too?" Lex wondered aloud.

"I think for men it's a monastery," Lana corrected him.

"Sure," Lex agreed with a lazy smile. "But a convent would be so much more fun."

"And that would defeat the purpose of joining a convent in the first place," Chloe said dryly.

"I don't think so," Lex said innocently.

"Then my senior year you have a string of one-night stands that, while I don't approve of them in the slightest and feel that they are morally wrong, really don't turn serious until one of them ends in murder," Clark told him.

"How does that happen?" Lex asked, disturbed. "It's like I can't do anything without homicide getting involved."

"There's a woman named Shannon Bell who you should absolutely not sleep with under any circumstances," Clark said urgently. "I guess she didn't get the memo that you were looking for a one-night stand because even though you sent her diamond earrings, she didn't bother trying to talk to you again and either finding out from you that you weren't interested or not being able to reach you and realizing that way. She broke up with her fiancé because she thought you two could have a relationship but you didn't. Then to make matters worse you didn't recognize her and had another one-night stand with her so she decided to frame you for the murder of a second one-night stand girl. Just don't sleep with her, okay? It seems like it would make that whole situation much easier."

"So Lex got someone killed and ruined someone else's life and turned her into a murderer because he just had to sleep around," Pete said disgustedly.

"I really don't think that's fair," Chloe objected. "Lots of people have one-night stands. Sometimes people go out to bars or clubs for the sole purpose of finding one. Diamond earrings are far better than most people get out of it and I'm sure Lex never meant to lead anyone on – but just to be safe, don't say anything about the future. If someone took one night of sex with a stranger to mean that she should throw away her fiancé without any indication that she could have more with this stranger then not only do I doubt she cared all that much about her fiancé but it really isn't Lex's fault. This woman is clearly unstable and probably an idiot, to boot."

"Thank you, Chloe," Lex said, a little surprised by her defense. He sighed. "If I were a normal person, I could just have anonymous one-night stands without having to worry about this kind of thing…"

"Well, moving on," Clark said awkwardly. He really didn't believe in sex for any reason but love but he didn't want to start judging Lex for choices he'd made in the past or might make in the future and start a fight. "This last instruction is a bit odd. If you ever find that someone that you're in a relationship with is pregnant then make sure that she is, in fact, actually pregnant and not just given hormones to make it appear that she's pregnant before you marry her or she will blame you and turn into a – and I quote – 'vengeful psychopath.'"

"My father's work?" Lex asked, blinking.

"Probably," Clark agreed. "Though I didn't ask. I wasn't really sure that I wanted to know."

"Neither am I," Lex admitted. "But that is sound advice, I suppose. And I thought that paternity suits were the only pregnancy-related scams I might have to worry about. Do you know who the woman in question was?"

"I'm sorry," Clark apologized. "You never said. But since she apparently didn't turn on you until after she found out about the fake pregnancy and thought it was you, I guess her identity isn't the important part."

"I suppose not," Lex conceded. "Still, it would be nice to know. Am I happily married in your future as well?"

"No," Clark told him. "I'm sorry."

"What are you apologizing for?" Lex asked him teasingly. "Have you been sabotaging my love life or something?"

"It's nice to know that at least one of us will have a successful dating history," Pete said smugly.

"Or maybe you just can't find anyone to date," Lex said innocently.

"Lex!" Clark complained.

"Or maybe it's because he moves out of the area and so actually lives among normal people," Lex offered.

"Oh, I should tell you about the buy-out!" Clark exclaimed.

"Buy-out?" Lex repeats. "That sounds promising."

"Very soon we're going to meet a boy named Ryan who can read minds. Except, of course-"

"Yours," Chloe interrupted. "Does anything affect you?"

"Witchcraft does as does hypnotism," Clark replied. "And the different kinds of Kryptonite definitely do."

"There are different kinds?" Lana asked, surprised.

Clark nodded and ticked them off on his fingers. "Green for pain, red for no inhibitions, blue for temporary loss of powers, gold for permanent loss of powers, silver for paranoia, black for a literal split personality, gemstone for persuasion, and clear for neutralized."

"Someone should write that down," Pete said. "No, wait. That could be dangerous. But we definitely need to remember that."

"Lex said that the red one was probably the most dangerous one because I kept all my powers but lost all of my morals," Clark confided. "And that the class ring will be red Kryptonite so I shouldn't order it. And that Alicia Baker gave me red Kryptonite and convinced me to marry her in Vegas. Red Kryptonite just sounds…horrible."

"I'll agree," Lana said, looking stricken.

"I just need to be careful not to accidentally let her see me using my powers like I apparently did last time even if she did make sure to show Chloe my powers so she'd know," Clark said seriously. "I meet her on the elevator on an economics fieldtrip to LuthorCorp Plaza junior year so I should both take the stairs. We were the only ones in the elevator and the elevator goes plummeting to the ground but she can teleport anyway so she should be fine. She sounded really disturbed and was ultimately murdered by someone named Tim so I'll need to keep an eye on that later."

"What were you saying about Ryan?" Lex inquired.

"Well, he can read minds and his evil stepparents are trying to use him to commit criminal activities," Clark explained. "Then later he gets sick, imprisoned, and dies because his aunt can't pay his medical bills so we should look into that. But that's not quite yet. Around the time Ryan shows up, your dad offers to let you come back to Metropolis and you decide not to go. He…does not react well to that and a couple of months later inspects the plant, tells you you did a wonderful job, then tries to force the issue by closing down the entire plant and saying it's all your fault."

"He can't!" Chloe hissed. "My father works there!"

"That reminds me, if you're going to go up against Mr. Luthor then keep in mind he can have your father fired and blacklisted," Clark said helpfully. "Unless Lex can manage to do something about that but he didn't last time."

Chloe turned to glare at him.

"I'm sure I had a good reason," Lex defended himself. "But I really don't know what happened, so…"

"And to be fair, this happened after you saw Lana and I kissing and decided to work with Mr. Luthor to find out my secret in exchange for a column at the Daily Planet," Clark said disapprovingly. "Then you went back on your word."

"Chloe, you sold Clark out for a column? To Mr. Luthor?" Pete sounded horrified. "Because he kissed somebody?"

"I…" Chloe trailed off, appalled. "I don't know what to say. I can't believe I'd do that. I really can't."

"You did," Clark confirmed grimly. "But you paid for it and we apparently worked past it. Just don't do anything so stupid now, okay? Mr. Luthor doesn't mess around."

"But he apparently becomes a good guy later," Lex muttered disbelievingly.

"We could really bond over our mutual hatred of your evil father, couldn't we?" Pete asked speculatively. "I stick around and the two of us can team up to remind Clark how horrible he is."

Lex's lips twitched. "Sounds like a plan."

"So anyway, you use your mother's inheritance and organize the employees into a buyout, forming LexCorp. LexCorp, by the way, is what you rename LuthorCorp as in the future. You might want to start preparing for that now," Clark advised.

"I'm finding it a bit horrifying that I had no idea the lengths to which my father could sink," Lex said, shaking his head.

"I think that that might actually cover everything on your fro-" Clark started to say. "No, wait. Julian."

Lex froze. "Julian?"

"You didn't kill him, Lex," Clark said earnestly. "You repressed the memory of your mother smothering him to protect him from your father and you took the blame because you knew what he would do to your mother if he knew but as his only heir you'd be okay."

"Who's Julian?" Pete wondered.

"My little brother," Lex said shortly. "Are…are you sure?"

"You told me so yourself and you seemed pretty sure," Clark replied. "Would you lie to yourself?"

Lex shook his head. "Not about Julian, no."

"Your half-brother Lucas is apparently a sociopathic idiot so you said not to bother with him and your half-sister Tess really wasn't happy about some cameras you use to spy on her so don't do that and do make more of an effort to keep her on your side," Clark told him. "And I'm also supposed to tell you that 'For all he tore up Warrior Angel, he grew up to practice his very own form of green vigilantism.' Whatever that means."

"Some sort of environmentalist?" Lana asked blankly.

"I know exactly who I was talking about," Lex said, surprised. "But not what the 'green vigilantism' means. You might be right, Lana, but why that would concern me to the point where I felt the need to tell my past self is beyond me."

"What about me?" Chloe asked, almost unsure if she wanted to know.

"Well, everyone was very concerned about you for a few years because no one from the future had ever heard of you," Clark began. "And they had heard of literally everyone else I came across. I never did find out why you were the exception…"


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please keep in mind that most of the information comes from future Lex and he simply does not like Oliver or Jimmy (nor does Clark know them so no need to hold back because of that) and he's certainly not going to paint himself in a bad light.

"I don't really know what happened to your father after his death was faked but I know he didn't come back to Smallville," Clark said slowly. "We thought you blew up but your cousin Lois came to town looking for answers. I x-rayed your grave and found no body so I assumed you must be alive and…might have accidentally let the people who wanted you dead in on the fact you were alive so they tried to kill you. But it all worked out!"

Chloe shook her head. "I just cannot see Lois in Smallville."

"Well according to Lex, neither could Lois and she lived in Smallville for a few years. Our senior year she attended class with us for a few weeks because she hadn't officially graduated but then Lex made some calls and she went off to college," Clark explained.

Chloe shot Lex a grateful look. "That was nice of you."

"Anything to help a friend," Lex said casually.

"Um…sophomore year you let Lana live with you because her Aunt gets married and moves to Metropolis and Lana doesn't want to go," Clark informed her. "You two apparently become best friends."

"Despite the fact that this hasn't actually happened yet, I feel that I should thank you," Lana told Chloe. "That's far more than most people would do and we're not even really very close. I know that Tina randomly asked to move in with me not long ago and it sort of freaked me out."

"Well, I do seem to have a higher tolerance for the bizarre," Chloe replied, shrugging. "That's why I go chasing after it while you keep getting stalked by it."

"Who would Aunt Nell even marry, anyway?" Lana wondered. "Do I know him?"

"I'm afraid that I didn't think to ask," Clark said apologetically.

"Isn't that a good thing?" Pete asked. "I mean, her finding happiness and whatnot?"

"Oh, it is," Lana said quickly. "It's just…no one wants to be a third wheel during a couple's honeymoon phase. And what if I don't like him?"

"Well I'm glad that I'll be able to help," Chloe reiterated. "Although I don't know what you'll do when I'm supposed to be dead."

"That's probably when she's in Paris," Lex told her.

Clark nodded. "I think it is, yeah. As I might have mentioned earlier, Alicia finds out about my powers and contacts Chloe and has her hide right before calling me so that Chloe sees me use my powers. Now, while I think it would have been better to come out right then and tell me that you saw me so I would have been forced to tell you the truth, you decided to wait for me to tell you on my own."

"Which never happened, I'm guessing," Lex said, a bit cynically.

"Chloe waited for an entire year but ultimately during the second meteor shower Chloe's in the caves for whatever reason when I opened up a portal to the arctic and she followed me in there. Since it was the arctic and she wasn't nearly dressed for it, she would have died unless I took her back," Clark explained.

"Caves?" Pete asked blankly.

"Oh, right," Clark said nodding. "Apparently there are these all-important caves that the AI of my dead biological father takes refuge in after I blow up his ship."

"Where are they?" Lex asked immediately.

Clark shrugged. "Ah…I don't know," he confessed. "They weren't really important because I could fly in the future so I didn't need the caves to get to the arctic. I'm sure they'll turn up sooner or later. That reminds me, the caves have some weird legend about Naman and Sageeth or something. They were supposed to be friends before one of them turned evil and the other fought him to protect people. And there was also this girl that one of them was supposed to be with…I think."

"Could you know any less about this?" Chloe demanded.

"Well I'm sorry but the whole thing seemed kind of stupid and unlikely, not to mention a little unimportant when compared to everything else," Clark said defensively. "And Lex refused to tell me who they were or who the girl was so I had to Google it anyway."

"Why wouldn't he tell you?" Lana asked, frowning at Lex.

"I can only speculate but I believe in making my own destiny," Lex replied calmly.

Clark nodded. "Yeah, that's what he said. But it doesn't really sound very important. What was important was that there were these three stones of powers that I eventually find – or have literally handed to me, as Lex put it – and that bringing them to the caves creates a portal to the arctic where there's this giant alien fortress that's useful for…things, I guess."

"There's a giant alien fortress in the arctic?" Chloe asked, intrigued.

"Not yet, but there will be," Clark clarified. "You start working at the Daily Planet and date and even marry this guy named Jimmy Olsen. I didn't meet him because he dies in a few years but Lex didn't like him. He said that Jimmy was constantly jealous, threw you over for my cousin, ended up a drug addict, sold you out, told you that marrying you was the biggest mistake he had ever met, had raging insecurity issues, was mad at you when he found a love letter you wrote when you were sixteen…basically not worth it. And then he gets murdered by this other guy named Davis Bloome who you were apparently also involved with."

"So I do have a rather unfortunate love life as well," Chloe said after taking a moment to digest everything.

"You have a cousin?" Lana asked, surprised.

"I'll get back to Kara in a minute," Clark promised. "Davis Bloome isn't human. He's some sort of Kryptonian creation and he ends up being a very dangerous villain named Doomsday. You're going to feel very sorry for him because he can't help himself but you shouldn't. Even though he says your presence helps keep him in control, we eventually manage to separate his human half from his Kryptonian monster half and his human half goes psycho and kills Jimmy because you two appear to be working it out. And then later Doomsday gets me killed for awhile."

"Killed for awhile?" Lana repeated, stunned and horrified.

"I…don't really know all the details about that but apparently it all works out," Clark assured her. "Either way, by the time that you finally date…someone who I really shouldn't tell you since I won't tell Pete and Lana about their future spouses…but the point is that you finally do end up with a really good guy and you're happily married in the future."

"I had better be after all of that," Chloe growled.

"Jimmy is actually 'Henry James Olsen' and he has a little brother named Jimmy, too, who is also a photographer at the Daily Planet when he grows up," Clark informed them.

"Not much originality in that family," Pete noted.

"So Chloe, you and your mom drove through Smallville during the meteor shower and both became meteor mutants," Clark said bluntly, not really seeing any way of softening the blow. "Your mother committed herself to a psychiatric facility because her power is controlling other mutants. One day when you were little, your mother ordered you to scrub all the ink off of your hands and you kept washing until your hands started to bleed. She wanted to protect you from that and so she disappeared."

Chloe said nothing but her hands started trembling.

"It gets worse," Clark said softly. "At some point, she slips into a coma. It hasn't been cured."

"I-I see," Chloe said, visibly fighting to compose herself. "And as for my mutant power? I don't turn into one of the freak of the weeks, do I?"

"Oh, no," Clark was quick to assure her. "You end up getting the power to heal people. It does have a serious side-effect in that whenever you heal them, it hurts you. You healed Lex once when he had just died and you were dead for a bit. You're not happy about your powers and try to get 'cured.' The doctor who promises to cure them, Dr. Knox, really kills them so I had to save you."

"We should really look into that," Chloe said, alarmed. "Doctors killing patients? That's not right."

"I think your healing powers eventually go away after you become Braniac's vessel," Clark told her. "He masquerades as Kara at some point and then attacks you. You don't get fully possessed for awhile but you do get super-smart in the meantime."

"That's another mention of Kara," Chloe noted. "And who's Brainiac?"

"Some Kryptonian creation," Clark said apologetically.

"Clark, why did your people keep creating dangerous creatures out to kill you?" Pete demanded.

"I don't know," Clark admitted. "I really think that they might have had problems. They did end up pretty much destroying themselves, as you can imagine. Brainiac, or part of Brainiac, it's complicated, came to Earth in a ship that brought two Kryptonian disciples of Zod who are must have managed to survive Krypton's destruction. From what I understand, we didn't manage to find the ship after the meteor shower but someone named Oliver Queen did."

"Oliver Queen?" Lex asked, frowning.

"Do you know him?" Lana inquired.

Lex nodded. "We went to school together."

"What's he like?" Lana pressed.

"I haven't seen him for years but he was a brute back at Excelsior," Lex replied.

"So Oliver didn't really know any of us so he kept the ship a secret," Clark continued his narrative. "This goo thing came out of the ship and transformed into something that looked human. He called himself Milton Fine and he and Oliver were working together."

"Why would he do that?" Chloe demanded. "That seems like a really stupid idea, helping an evil alien."

"He knew that he was evil," Clark replied. "But he figured that he couldn't destroy Fine and if he didn't work with him, somebody else more gullible would. He was trying to sabotage Fine's work and protect humanity but it didn't work. In the end, Fine had him abducted and altered a bit so that he could be possessed by a notorious Kryptonian criminal called Zod. There's this other dimension called the Phantom Zone where Kryptonians used to send all of their criminals. Zod could only escape it by possessing another."

"So Oliver Queen became this Zod's vessel?" Lex asked. "With his resources and any powers that might have transferred over, that sounds disastrous."

"Zod did still have his powers," Clark confirmed. "And we ended up fighting. Eventually, I managed to banish Zod back into the Phantom Zone and Oliver was fine. He didn't even remember anything. A lot of people ended up dying and getting hurt, though. Oliver felt guilty even though it clearly wasn't his fault and so donated a lot of money to help rebuild."

"It clearly wasn't his fault?" Chloe repeated skeptically. "It sounds like he was cause in the matter."

Clark shrugged. "I wasn't there and Lex, who doesn't even like him, was very adamant about that point. Those two apparently keep coming back so if we can keep Brainiac contained in the first place and never summon Zod that should make things easier."

"If we could figure out how the Phantom Zone works, sending the ship there might be a good idea," Lex suggested. "It would be a pity to lose out on the chance to study the ship but Brainiac and Zod don't make that seem worth it and you have your own ship. And didn't you mention a cousin?"

Clark nodded. "Kara, yeah. She came with me to Earth but her ship crashed in the Reeves Dam. She's been in suspended animation since then. She's sixteen and she has no idea that Krypton has been destroyed or that she's been in suspended animation."

"How did you find her?" Pete asked.

"The dam flooded," Clark explained. "I'm really not sure how. It would be great if we could get her out now as she knows far more about Krypton than I do but I'm not really sure how that would work. She doesn't know how to use any of her powers yet because she didn't have them on Krypton, they come from the sun, but she learns them faster than I do. Maybe she could help me."

"So…what?" Chloe asked. "Was she sent as your baby-sitter?"

"A little, yeah," Clark agreed. "Though I'm a little past needing one. Her father and my father were brothers. Her father was kind of evil and wanted my mother. He sent her here with a blue crystal that can create a clone of her father and my mother."

"Meeting your mother might not be bad," Lana opined. "Assuming that she's not evil or insane like your other family members seem to be."

"From what I found out, she's not. But Kara's not bad, either. She just doesn't know that her father's evil," Clark clarified. "But the crystal has to be destroyed because to make it work it has to be connected to the Fortress and it also allows Kara's father to take control of the Fortress and is able to wipe out all of humanity…via some eclipse."

"How can an eclipse wipe out the population?" Pete demanded skeptically.

"I really don't know," Clark admitted. "But it sounds like a bad idea anyway. And to make matters worse, once the crystal is destroyed it automatically gives Kara amnesia and sends her to Detroit of all places. Fortunately, Lex eventually manages to track her down. So as nice as it would be to get to meet my mother, I think that that's something that we would really need to plan for if we ever decide to use the crystal."

"You're saying 'we'," Lex noted.

Clark blinked. "Huh? I guess I am. I mean, you guys all said that you wanted to get involved, right? Or am I misreading that?"

"No, no, we do," Chloe assured him. "It's just almost more surreal that you're willing to let us help you than that you're an alien who travelled to the future last night."

"I've got to agree with Chloe on this one," Lana admitted.

Clark cringed. "I'm sorry."

'Again?' mouthed Chloe.

"It hasn't happened, remember?" Pete reminded him, ignoring Chloe. "And now it won't."

"So I get attacked by Brainiac," Chloe prompted him.

Clark nodded. "That's right. Lana gets attacked, too, and ends up in a coma for a few weeks but she makes a full recovery."

"At least he wasn't in love with me," Lana said resignedly. She looked worried. "He wasn't, was he?"

"I don't think so," Clark replied. "Although I didn't ask. There was some other Kryptonian creature that kept jumping from host to host and who eventually used my DNA to create a body for himself – Bizarro – who was in love with you. Although I don't think he actually ended up attacking you…"

"I suppose that's something," Lana said absently. "What it is about me that drives all the meteor mutants wild? I mean, I know that I'm pretty but this is ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous. Do I give off some kind of signal begging people to obsess over me and try to kidnap or kill me?"

"That could be your meteor power," Chloe suggested half-seriously.

Lana groaned. "I hate the meteors. I really do." She shot a quick glance at Clark who looked like he was about to apologize again. "And that is not in any way your fault."

Clark hesitated, trying to decide if he should say something about that and eventually decided to just move on. "Before Jimmy dies, he gives you a loft in the tallest building in Metropolis. It was supposed to be a wedding present but your wedding went horribly, horribly wrong and Jimmy was injured during an attack on it by Doomsday. He dumped you when you were going to finally take him home from the hospital and so he never got around to giving it to you until you two had reconciled moments before his death."

Pete growled. "Chloe, I don't know this guy but he sounds like a major asshole. You deserve better."

Chloe managed a smile. "Thank you, Pete. I don't know him, either, but I highly doubt I'll ever end up dating him after this."

"I'm sure you'll be able to find plenty of non-crazy people to date since your list is apparently only three guys long," Lana said glumly.

"You'll find someone," Chloe said encouragingly. "And hey, you're dating someone sane now."

Lana started. "You know, I'd almost forgotten that. I'm suddenly a lot more appreciative of Whitney's non-homicidal tendencies than I was before."

"Yes, a lack of homicidal tendencies in your love interests is vastly underrated," Lex agreed. "Say Clark, when was the last time you tried to kill anybody?"

"I…don't think I ever have," Clark replied. "Not really. I mean, Greg crushed himself. And Coach Arnold set himself on fire when we were fighting. I through Sean into a lake but that was self-defense and I didn't expect it to immediately freeze with him inside it. Is he dead? Harry died when he re-aged. Phelan was shot by police after robbing a museum. Kyle convinced Rickman to kill himself. Yeah, I think that's it."

Chloe let out a low whistle. "That's still a lot of death you've been involved in, even if you haven't actually been killing them."

"In my defense, these are mostly homicidal meteor mutants and it's while I'm trying to protect people," Clark said defensively.

"Oh, I know," Chloe assured him. "Wait, mostly?"

"I don't think Phelan was a mutant; I've known him for years," Lex replied. "Speaking of…does this mean that he wasblackmailing you?"

Clark nodded. "I only meant for him to get arrested but he tried to shoot his way out so…"

"That's the kind of thing they call 'suicide by cop'," Lex told him. "I wish you had come to me."

"I didn't want to get anybody else involved and I did get it handled," Clark replied. "Where was I…Ah, Watchtower. You turned the loft into a meeting place for heroes and vigilantes and outfitted it with all kinds of advanced technology so you could monitor everything. You really did spend too much time there, but ultimately you realized that and started cutting back. I think the fact your personal life was falling apart and you had just lost Jimmy to a suddenly evil Davis and blamed yourself was why you never left Watchtower."

"Not to take a page out of Clark's book and start apologizing for things that never happened but…damn, Chloe, I'm sorry. I really should have been there," Pete said, sounding guilty.

"So should I," Lana said immediately.

"The bigger question is why I wasn't there," Clark told them. "Lex said I was suffering some sort of identity crisis but I really don't feel that that's any excuse."

"It's okay, Clark, really," Chloe assured him. "It didn't happen and as long as it doesn't, you're off the hook."

"I'll make sure it doesn't," Clark promised. "Barring some unforeseen circumstance that forces my hand but really, I'll try to make sure it doesn't."

"Was there anything else?" Chloe inquired.

"Um…you take a break from journalism for awhile and run some sort of foundation for those affected by meteors," Clark said slowly. "You erase yourself from existence for awhile, Chloe Sullivan's identity, not you literally ceasing to exist, because you saw that Oliver and I were going to get kidnapped in the future and wanted to show up at the right time and you later said that that was a mistake so I'd recommend not doing that in the future. You faked your own death which I really think was kind of a jerk move since you didn't tell anyone. Oh, and while you stepped down from Watchtower you eventually go back to journalism and help discover new heroes."

"I should hope so," Chloe said, looking horrified. "I mean, Chloe Sullivan not a journalist? That just feels wrong."

"I think Lex said that Mr. Luthor had you blacklisted for awhile and by the time he died, you decided not to go back just yet," Clark confided. "So, um…any questions?"

"Are you happily married, too, Clark?" Lana inquired. "What happens to you in the future?"

"I am, yes, but I really can't tell you who I'm married to," Clark said apologetically.

"That doesn't seem fair," Chloe objected. "You know who we're all married to."

"Yeah but if I tell you then it will probably change history," Clark protested.

Lex raised an eyebrow. "Correct me if I'm wrong, Clark, but won't this information dump already change history?"

"Yes but for the better," Clark insisted. "If I tell you that, say, Lex marries Kara then suddenly when they meet it's going to be awkward and there's going to be expectations and it might never happen."

"Now that you're changing so much, the couples that you saw may not come about either way," Lex pointed out.

"Then it won't come about but I still think keeping it a secret is the best idea," Clark said stubbornly. "I know that I'm a little freaked by the fact that I'm married in the future but it's not like we're destined to be together or anything. If I like her, I'll date her and if I love her and she loves me, I'll marry her. I'm not going to go after her just because the future tells me to."

"I recommend not fighting too hard if you know that she's hot and reasonably sane," Pete advised.

Clark frowned. "Only reasonably?"

"Well, you'll have to be able to convince her to date you in the first place," Pete said innocently.

Clark rolled his eyes. "Lois Lane and I are partners at the Daily Planet and we've won Pulitzers. Perry White is the editor though I've been led to believe that he might have career problems right now?"

"My father's doing, I believe," Lex informed them. "He can get a bit…enthusiastic about squashing stories he doesn't like. Perry White seems to have integrity, though, I'll give him that."

"What does Superman look like?" Chloe asked. "Do you wear a mask? How do you disguise your voice?"

"In Warrior Angel, he uses technology to disguise his voice," Lex informed them.

"Well…I've seen footage of Superman so I think that I just use a more authoritative tone of voice," Clark replied. "And the AI has some technique built into the suit that disguises my face since I don't wear a mask. I'm not really sure how but it looks very little like me."

"And what kind of outfit are we talking about?" Lana prompted.

"Um…" Clark trailed off, trying to figure out how to describe it. "It's not spandex, exactly, because the AI made it and it's much stronger than that but it sort of looks like that."

"A grown man wearing spandex, nope nothing odd about that at all," Pete muttered.

"There isn't if you're a superhero," Clark claimed. "Most of the outfit is blue but I've got red boots, a red cape, and a red…section around my mid-section."

Pete got it first. "Oh my God, you wear underwear outside of your outfit!"

"I do not!" Clark hissed, flushing. "It doesn't look like that at all!"

"I think your denial is rather telling, Clark," Lex disagreed.

"Our new partnership is already paying off," Pete said, pleased.

Clark glared at them both. "Anyway, there's this huge diamond-shaped patch on my chest outlined with red and with a large 'S' taking up most of the room and with yellow filling in the rest of the diamond. Or rather, it looks like an 'S' and that's probably where 'Superman' came from. Actually, it's the symbol of the House of El and the AI apparently insisted."

"The House of El?" Lex queried. "Does that mean you were nobility on Krypton?"

Clark shrugged. "I guess so. It doesn't seem to matter much now, though."

"Primary colors," Chloe said, shaking her head. "That is so Clark."

"I feel like we all must have been dead or otherwise not speaking to Clark when this happened if we really let him walk around looking like that," Lana declared.

"What's wrong with it?" Clark demanded, a little hurt.

"Well…" Lana trailed off, trying to find a way to be tactful. "It's a little…loud."

"Then what do you suggest?" Clark asked her.

"Maybe…black. It's nice and solid and dignified," Lana answered slowly.

"But Batman wears black," Clark protested.

"There must be differences in your costume either way," Pete pointed out. "And are you saying nobody else wears red, blue, and yellow?"

"No they do," Clark admitted. "It's just…different. I like those colors."

"We know," Pete and Chloe said in unison.

"That's years away, though, so we do have time to discuss it in more detail when the time comes to designing your costume," Lex pointed out. "And for the record, I am in favor of the black with the El symbol in a nice, majestic purple."

"I'll keep that in mind," Clark said in a tone that indicated that it would be quite the uphill battle to get him to compromise on his chosen color scheme. "So…what now? Are we good?"

"We're good," Lana assured him. "What did your parents say about telling us?"

"They will likely not react well," Clark said, not looking at her.

"You mean you haven't told them?" Lana asked, shocked. "You really should do that immediately so they know where things stand."

"They're going to have a heart attack," Clark moaned.

"And I intend to be well off the property when they find out," Lex announced. "Just a safety precaution."

"My dad's not going to shoot you, Lex," Clark said, rolling his eyes.

"Why take that risk?" Lex asked rhetorically. "And that seems like a family discussion anyway. I'd be happy to give anyone a ride who needs one."

Lana, Pete, and Chloe exchanged a look.

"I think we all will," Chloe told him. "Thanks."

"We'll catch you later, Clark," Pete told him. "Good luck."

"Yeah," Clark said, sighing. "I'll call you guys later if I actually survive this…"

"You'll be fine," Lex assured him. "If nothing else, you're practically invincible."


	7. Chapter 7

Clark took a deep breath as he went into the kitchen where his parents were washing dishes. He could do this. He wasn't entirely an adult yet but he was getting there and he was willing to fight for his parents (mostly his father) to stop treating him like a child. What could they do, anyway? Ground him? It was worth it and it wouldn't be able to take back the fact that his friends knew. Maybe his dad would even start being nicer to Lex since he was now a keeper of the secret.

Clark couldn't judge his parents too harshly for their soon-to-be negative reaction because he knew that it was born out of a deeply felt desire to protect him and nothing else. They weren't trying to use him for their own ends or claim his powers for themselves and they just wanted to prevent others from doing just that. They felt that telling anyone was a mistake and that Lex's father and his aura of mystery made him a less likely choice to tell than the other three.

Normally, their fears would have been enough to keep him quiet unless someone really did catch him in a horribly revealing situation that he couldn't cover. This time, though, it was okay. It was safe. He knew without a doubt that his friends could be trusted in a way that he had rarely known anything before. Future knowledge was really useful and wasn't that an understatement? Future knowledge was the best. He really wished that he could have gotten more out of Lex or at least some better context but as it was he supposed that it was enough and he should be content with what he had.

"Mom? Dad?" Clark called, a bit hesitantly.

Jonathan put down the plate he was drying and glanced over at his son. "Is everything alright?"

Again, Clark hesitated.

"Clark?" Martha asked, frowning.

"Sort of?" he answered lamely.

"Well it is or it isn't," Jonathan said reasonably. "Which one?"

"Maybe you should sit down for this," Clark suggested.

"That sounds like it isn't," Martha said shrewdly.

"I think that everything's just fine," Clark clarified. "I'm just not sure that you two will share that belief. In fact, I'm not positive that you won't."

His parents exchanged a glance before they sat down in their spots at the kitchen table.

Clark sat down as well. "I don't know how it happened but last night I went into the future," he began.

"The future?" Martha repeated. "How far did you go? What happened? Did you meet your future self?"

Clark shook his head. "No, I was my future self…or at least I was in his body. Lex was a little concerned that I might not have gone into the future but just lost some of my memory."

"Lex," Jonathan said, his eyes darkening. "Don't tell me that you went to him for help!"

"I kind of had to!" Clark said defensively. "You were dead and mom was a Senator and in Europe and I couldn't find Pete! What else was I supposed to do?"

"Wait until you could find your mother," Jonathan snapped. "Or don't tell anybody and try to see what's going on. I'm sure you could have fit the pieces of your life back together. Anything but asking a Luthor for help! You know that they can't be trusted."

Clark closed his eyes briefly to calm himself. "Actually, dad, they can. Or at least Lex can. He did nothing but help me when I went to him and he told me all about the future."

"I'm sure he did," Jonathan said darkly. "And how do you know that he didn't just rewrite history to make himself look good?"

"He wouldn't do that!" Clark said indignantly. "He told me that I didn't even tell him voluntarily but that in two years when I stop him from being run over by a car he sees me saving him and I can't hide it."

He decided that it was best not to mention the fact that Lex's father was trying to drug him into insanity at the time because that wouldn't do anything to allay his father's fears about Lex knowing or about Clark spending time with Lex at all. Best just keep it simple.

"What would you have had me do?" he asked, suddenly feeling confrontational. "Just let my best friend die because you don't trust him?"

"Of course I don't think you should have let him die," Jonathan shot back. "Just…maybe found a way to save him without revealing what you are."

"There wasn't or I'm sure I would have done it," Clark said, a little bitterly. "I understand your concerns, dad, but the facts are the facts. Trusting Lex turned out to be a good move and it doesn't matter how many reasons you can think of not to trust Lex, he does turn out to be someone who I can trust with my secret."

"Clark," Martha said quietly. "Clark, you said your father was dead? When was this? What happened?"

"It was a heart attack," Clark replied just as softly. "I'm not sure exactly when it happened. Sometime in the next twenty-five years."

Jonathan started. The part about him dying apparently hadn't even registered in the face of his concern about Clark's decision to trust the future Lex. "Well, twenty-five years is quite a long time," he said, trying to stay positive. It wasn't working very well.

"It doesn't have to happen," Clark said quickly. "I-I heard something about me running away one year and you having to go to the AI that came with my spaceship to help get me back and so he gives you temporary problems and a heart condition. I can just not run off and there, problem solved."

"If it were that easy then you wouldn't have run off in the first place," Jonathan pointed out. "Son, I know you and I know that you wouldn't have done something like that if it wasn't something big. You can't make promises like that."

"I can and I am," Clark said fiercely.

"You're blaming yourself," Martha realized.

"No," Clark denied, not looking at her.

"Clark…" she trailed off.

Clark sighed. "It's just…it seems that if dad died from a heart attack because of a heart condition he got because he wanted to protect me…and I know that I haven't been the easiest kid to take care of all these years…"

"Listen to me very carefully, Clark," Martha said firmly. "We chose this and we wouldn't trade a minute of it, not for anything."

"You can't blame yourself for my choices, Clark," Jonathan echoed his wife's sentiment. "If I chose to try to protect you then that's my decision and what follows from that is my fault far more than it could ever be yours."

"If you say so," Clark said uncertainly.

"Think of it this way," Martha instructed. "Say that Lana was abducted by another meteor mutant and when you were fighting him you were exposed to some meteor rock-"

"Kryptonite," Clark corrected absently. At his parents' confused looks, he hastily elaborated. "Pieces of the destroyed planet I'm from, Krypton. I learned all about it in the future but, uh, I can tell you that later."

Martha nodded, accepting that for now. "Kryptonite, then, and you got sick. Should Lana blame herself for this?"

"Of course not!" Clark exclaimed. "It wasn't her fault she got abducted by yet another meteor mutant. But it would be my fault that I ran off and getting sick is a lot less serious than dying."

"Okay," Martha said calmly. "Say that in protecting Lana, you were exposed to too much Kryptonite and died. Is it Lana's fault then."

"Well, no…" Clark admitted, seeing where she was going but not liking it. "But that's really not the same thing and-"

"Clark," his mother interrupted. "Just think about it, okay?"

"I will," he promised.

"So is that what you think we wouldn't like?" Jonathan asked him. "That you trusted Lex in the future?"

Clark coughed awkwardly. "No, actually. It didn't really occur to me that you'd have a problem with that since it was twenty-five years into the future and clearly everything was fine."

"Then what's the problem?" Jonathan asked, getting the sinking feeling that whatever it was he wouldn't like it one bit.

"Well, Lex told me more than just about what he'd been up to," Clark said slowly. "He told me about myself, about you guys, about Chloe and Lana and Pete…just about everything that I wanted to know. Apparently I trust those three in the future as well and they haven't let me down."

Jonathan didn't react for a moment. Finally, he said, "Twenty-five years is an awfully long time. Longer than we've had you. I suppose that by then they could have proven themselves." Those words looked like they almost hurt coming out.

"You have no idea how happy it makes me that you've managed to find people that you can rely on and be yourself around," Martha said, smiling at him. "I'm not sure if I would agree with how this came to be but since it worked out I have no complaints."

"Is that the part you thought we'd have a problem with?" Jonathan asked, almost desperately.

Clark shook his head. "No, actually the part that I think you'd have a problem with is the fact that…the fact that…"

"Go on," Martha said encouragingly.

Clark closed his eyes. "The fact that I just had Chloe, Pete, Lana, and Lex come over to the barn and told them everything," he blurted.

Silence.

More silence.

The silence stretched on until Clark could hardly bear it but he was determined not to be the first one to break it.

At last, after what felt like a very unreasonable length of time, Jonathan spoke. "I'm sorry, I must have misheard you. It sounded like you said that you just told four of your friends – including Lex Luthor – about the fact that you're an alien."

Clark bit down the instinctive smart remark because he knew that it wouldn't help here. "I did."

"I see," Jonathan said, deceptively calm. "WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?"

"Clark…" Martha trailed off, sounding less angry and more scared. "What have you done?"

"I was thinking that since they had all proven themselves trustworthy and useful in the future and since my lying hurt my relationship with all of them, it would be for the best to just be honest with them now. Now they can help me if they want to and stay out of trouble if they don't. Now I don't have to make excuses and hurt them and maybe I won't make the same stupid mistakes," Clark said heatedly.

"How do you know you can trust them?" Jonathan demanded.

Clark couldn't believe it. "What are you talking about? I just told you that they proved themselves in the future!"

"Yes, Clark, but that's the future," Martha pointed out. "This is now. Maybe in the future your friends will be the kind of people you can trust with something this important but for right now most of them are just children. This is a horribly unfair burden you placed on them."

"I know that," Clark said stubbornly. "I asked them if they really wanted to know and they all said that they did." Granted, Pete had mostly said that because everyone else was finding out and he couldn't stand to be the last one to know but that was hardly relevant to this discussion now was it?

"But how could they possibly know what it was that you were going to saddle them with?" Martha pressed.

"I can't help it if I can't prepare them for what I'm going to tell them until I actually tell them," Clark said frustratedly.

"I know, honey, I do," Martha assured him. "And that's why I think that you really should have waited until you were all older so they'd be better able to deal with it. Even if your friends don't want to tell, they might not have a choice. Lex's father, for instance, is not the kind of man that we can trust and he might find out something from Lex. Who knows how closely he watches his son?"

"From what I know of him, I wouldn't put it past him," Clark admitted grudgingly. "But Lex isn't so careless that he'd let his father find out. He's really paranoid about him."

"Maybe, maybe not," Jonathan allowed. "But it's still a huge risk to take and you're still just a kid yourself. You're too young to be making these life decisions."

This was the football team all over again, wasn't it? Exploding would not help his cause, he reminded himself. "I trust them, dad. I considered the possibility that while, say, Chloe would report my secret now she'd keep it in the future but I decided that she wouldn't and that they wouldn't. I decided that it would be okay. And I'm sorry but, like it or not, the damage is done."

Jonathan sighed. "He's right."

"We're going to have to deal with this," Martha agreed. "I think that the best thing to do would be to invite them all over for dinner and see how they're handling the news and try to stress how important it is that they never tell anyone."

"That's really not necessary-" Clark started to say.

"But we're going to do it anyway," Jonathan cut him off. "You can never be too careful, Clark, and just because you told them doesn't mean that we're not going to do everything we can to make sure that this doesn't end up backfiring."

That cut through what was left of Clark's anger. Despite everything, they still had his back. If he had to be an alien stranded on this world as a toddler, he didn't think there was any family he'd have rather been made a part of than the Kents'.

"Also, you're grounded," Jonathan told him in his 'I mean business' voice. "That was reckless and irresponsible and you should have discussed it with us first."

Well, he'd seen that coming. Oh well. He'd get over it and something told him that the price would be well worth the rewards.


	8. Chapter 8

Lex slowed to a stop somewhere along an open stretch of road and got out of the car.

"Call me crazy but I'm pretty sure I don't live here," Pete remarked as he, too, climbed out of the car.

"No," Lex agreed. "But I thought that we should probably talk about what Clark said."

"And we couldn't have done that somewhere else because…?" Pete questioned.

"There's too much of a risk at being overheard," Lex explained. There was also, of course, the fear that his father was having him spied on and perhaps even bugging him which would be a far greater catastrophe than some Smallvillian hearing something they shouldn't. He wouldn't mention that, though, as it was a private matter and actually a little embarrassing.

Lana beamed at him. "It's so wonderful how worried you are about protecting Clark."

"And at least he bought us coffee first," Chloe said, holding up her coffee cup.

Pete rolled his eyes but said nothing. Letting Lex pay for his cup had probably been as much of a peace offering as he was going to get today.

"The first question I suppose is whether or not we all believe Clark's story," Lex began.

"Which story?" Lana questioned. "The part about being an alien or the part about him time travelling?"

"I actually find the alien story a lot easier to believe than the other one," Chloe admitted. "We all knew that Clark was different but I, for one, just thought he was a meteor mutant. And who knows? He might have been one that thought that he was an alien if it weren't for this ship that we haven't seen."

"I think we can presume that it exists because there's little point in lying about it," Lex replied. "Although unless they actually saw him climbing out of said ship, it could be a coincidence. It's unlikely but possible."

"I would like to take this time to remind everyone that I did not, in fact, think that there was anything unusual about Clark," Pete told them.

"Yeah but Pete, you're Smallville," Chloe pointed out.

"So?" Pete asked defensively.

"The level of denial the people here are capable of is quite frankly frightening," Chloe explained.

"I don't think we're that much in denial," Lana disagreed.

"Denial about being in denial is, in and of itself, being in denial," Lex informed her.

"And if I admitted to being in denial I would also be in denial so once you're accused of being in denial there's no way to win, is there?" Lana countered.

"I think that Clark is an alien," Pete announced. "After all, we've all seen how he gets around Lana and while part of that is clearly his massive crush on her, she's also been wearing Kryptonite for years and he said that it hurt him. Some of the meteor mutants are actually powered by Kryptonite and it never seems to hurt any of them."

"Well, it does seem to drive them nuts," Chloe pointed out.

"Physically hurt them," Pete amended.

"So we all agree that Clark's an alien," Lana said slowly. "What about him being from the future? Or…went to the future but came back?"

"Well it's either that or he's been investigating my family history because I tend not to talk about Lois," Chloe told her. "I think that Clark did do what he said but that doesn't mean the information is reliable."

"You think Clark would lie to us?" Pete couldn't believe it.

"No," Chloe said. She hesitated and glanced up at Lex apologetically.

In a flash, he got it. "She means that most of Clark's information comes from me and so while he may believe everything that future me said, that doesn't mean that it's all true."

"Well…yeah," Chloe admitted. "But that's not just because it's you. If any of us were Clark's source of information, I'd have to be equally skeptical about them. Like if I pushed too hard trying to investigate Clark and damaged our friendship or even ended it then I definitely wouldn't admit to that."

"You wouldn't do that," Pete said loyally.

"I would hope not," Chloe said, smiling at him. "But who knows? We already had a fight a little while ago when I was being…thorough about that project we had about each other's families. There were inconsistencies with his adoption and I wanted to know more. Now I understand perfectly, of course, but if he hadn't told me and he kept doing things that normal people couldn't do…who knows?"

Lex understood all too well what she was saying. The difference was that Chloe, Pete, and Lana – however much they might want to hide the truth – hadn't been given the opportunity to do so. He had. And he knew without a doubt that if he had done something along the lines of what Chloe had said and ruined his friendship with Clark, no matter what the circumstances, he didn't think he'd admit to it, either. He had already lied to Clark about having anything to do with Hamilton. He'd need to either cut him loose or convince Clark that investigating the Kryptonite (without revealing Clark's connection) was a good idea. It…would probably ultimately be easier to just do the former.

"So what do you think, Lex?" Lana asked him seriously. "I know that twenty-five years is a very long time and people change so you can't possibly know but do you think you'd have been willing to lie to Clark?"

Yes. Absolutely. His mind drifted back to that woman that he'd been warned against marrying before he was sure that she was pregnant. Why hadn't he been told the identity? He might not know her but he didn't know any Desirée Atkins' or Helen Bryces either. While making sure that someone really was pregnant was always a prudent move, it would make even more sense for him to know and to be on the lookout for whoever he had been fooled by in the future. It didn't make sense not to tell him unless there was another reason not to tell him.

Was this woman someone important to Clark? At the moment that boiled down to Lana or Chloe and he couldn't see either of them pulling something like that. But then, they could be just as much a victim as he was if Clark's comment of them turning vengeful was any indication. It could always be someone in the future who was important to Clark but wasn't now. While Lex couldn't see himself ever dating someone that Clark himself was in love with (such as Lana), if they were on less-than-cordial terms he might consider it. But even if they were still friends and Clark wasn't interested in the woman, Clark would likely not react well to hearing that, say, Chloe had been hurt in that way.

"Lex?" Lana repeated.

"There are some things that I would never lie about," Lex said carefully. "Julian is one of them. And there are some things that don't make sense to warn about if it's not true, like with Belle Reve. If something is sufficiently big enough then I can't possibly lie about it because there's too high of a risk of Clark finding out. Smaller details, maybe, but the smaller details don't really matter, do they?"

"I don't know," Pete said doubtfully.

"It's not like he's trying to justify any lies he did tell," Lana pointed out. "He's just speculating on what he'd do twenty-five years into the future. What do you know about yourself twenty-five years into the future?"

"I'm a senator," Pete said smugly.

Chloe rolled her eyes. "Well don't just expect it to somehow magically happen. You'll need to work for it."

"I guess the question is what we do now that we know about it," Lex mused. "We are all okay with this, right?"

"Oh, absolutely," Chloe assured him. "This might limit what I can and can't publish but it's not like anyone really believes my theories anyway. And a true reporter never backs down from a challenge."

"I know," Lex said grimly.

"You know, if we stay on good terms then one day you'll always have a non-hostile reporter out there," Chloe pointed out. "Just, you know, in case you're the news."

"When I'm the news," Lex corrected.

"I think I'm okay with it," Lana said slowly. "I mean, I know intellectually that it wasn't Clark's fault that this happened."

"But you can't help but blame him?" Chloe asked, worried.

Lana shook her head, surprised. "Oh, just the opposite! Even if it had somehow been his fault, I just can't work that out in my head. Clark is a good guy and he's apparently put a lot of work into saving me from my many, many, many insane stalkers. It's a little weird but this is Smallville."

"Pete?" Chloe inquired.

"I'm getting there," Pete admitted. "I'm actually more concerned about the fact that I'm apparently driven from Smallville in the future."

"You're not worried about accidentally telling someone?" Lana inquired.

Pete shrugged. "Who would I tell? Clark's parents know and now so does Chloe. You and maybe Lex would be the only other people that are ever consistently around when weird things happen that I could slip up around and now I don't need to worry about that."

"Which brings us back to what do we do now?" Lana reiterated.

"I'm not sure that there's anything we really can do," Lex replied. "Clark knows a lot but even if everything he said is true it's mostly for big future events, not the day-to-day things."

"He only identified a few mutants," Chloe added. "Ian is a threat and Ryan and Alicia aren't."

"For now we just try to support Clark, keep his secret, and maybe help him out on occasion with the meteor mutants," Lana decided. "Though I think that would be more in researching than in actually fighting them for obvious reasons."

"What about the longer-term future?" Pete asked.

"That's harder to plan for," Lana told him. "Even knowing what I do about Clark and about my own potential future, I don't know where I'm going to be five years from now, let alone twenty-five."

"One thing I know for sure is that I am definitely going to talk him out of wearing underpants on the outside of his clothing," Pete said seriously. "I mean, I don't care how striking it looks or whatever, it's embarrassing and I would feel embarrassed knowing him."

"We should also try to get a different color outfit," Chloe suggested. "I mean, talk about an eyesore."

"It might look nice," Lana defended him.

Chloe laughed. "Please, Lana. You've seen the kind of clothes Clark dresses himself in. Without our direct intervention, he'll show up in primary colors and spandex."

"The spandex is probably necessary for freedom of movement," Lex pointed out. "But I agree about the colors."

"Although God knows if we'll ever convince him," Pete said sadly, shaking his head.

"Surely there's something more pressing he'll need help with than wardrobe advice," Lana said, rolling her eyes.

"Maybe," Lex agreed. "But we're not likely to be able to figure it out today. We'll just need to be there for him and help him deal with whatever comes up when it comes up."


	9. Chapter 9

"Do we really have to wait for Clark?" Pete asked, looking at his menu wistfully. The waiter who had just refilled their drinks quickly left their private room.

"Yes," Lana said firmly. "It would be rude to order without him."

"But he's half an hour late!" Pete pointed out.

"Well, he is Superman," Chloe said tolerantly.

Lex wouldn't have been okay with her speaking so openly about it if it weren't for the fact that he'd had this place swept for bugs before they arrived and he'd used this place before so the staff were under strict orders to knock before entering.

"Could we at least get an appetizer?" Pete begged.

"We're waiting for Clark," Lana insisted.

"If you're that hungry then you should have eaten before we came," Chloe told him.

"But we're here for lunch," Pete protested. "Who in their right mind would eat before going off to lunch?"

"Presumably somebody who has to wait on Superman to arrive," Lex said wryly. "But have faith; I just checked my phone and there's no big Superman sighting going on so whatever it is he should be here shortly."

"If he got held up at the Planet then I will kill him myself," Pete declared.

Chloe snorted. "You and what army?"

"Hey, Clark's kept Bruce waiting, too," Pete replied. "He'll understand."

"Bruce has never kept Clark waiting?" Lex asked, intrigued.

Pete shook his head. "Apparently not. He says that whenever he's late Clark insists on helping out and you know how territorial superheroes can be."

"Clark's not territorial," Lana defended.

Pete raised a skeptical eyebrow.

"He's not!" Lana insisted. "He just, you know…by this point the people who are willing to attack Metropolis know full well what they're going to have to deal with and so tend to be a bit more than the other heroes can handle."

"Twenty-five years and you still defend him," Pete said, shaking his head in disbelief. "I'm amazed at your fortitude."

Yes, it had been twenty-five years since the day that Clark had revealed to them that he had come back from the future. Twenty-five years into the future. Lex was concerned that he would need to face a past-Clark one day soon in order to ensure that his own timeline happened. There was the possibility that his timeline was secure no matter what and him not encountering a past Clark would just mean that an alternate dimension would have a different fate but there was really no way to know that for certain and he would rather not risk it.

Another problem was the fact that apparently he had changed history when he (near future and possibly alternate dimension him) told Clark what lay in his future. Unless, of course, he had been lying to Clark which had always been a possibility. Maybe things had always worked out just the way that they had now in some sort of stable time-loop but he had to lie about some things in the process. If that was the case then he didn't know why he had been warned about some people or situations but maybe that wasn't important. Just in case he should meet a confused past-Clark one day, he had had Clark's memory of his every conversation with future-him analyzed and a transcript printed out and kept at his office (where they had first encountered each other) at all times. If anything happened, he would be ready. He wasn't about to destroy his own – very nice – presence.

Some things he outright knew were different. Zod had never been released, for instance. Lana had found the ship his disciples had come in and taken the matter straight to him as Clark had been off building his arctic Fortress of Solitude. That had been a difference that they caused but Lex hadn't noticed Oliver or his cronies anywhere near the ship. Had they inadvertently changed something or had that not been strictly true? He'd probably never know and there was really no need to worry Clark about something like that.

As it was, Clark – predictably – thought he was being overly paranoid but then Clark never did like putting the time and effort into preparations. It came from all the power he had and the fact that he could often deal with problems as they came up, Lex supposed. That was, after all, why he needed Lex and the others.

"Well he needed defending a lot less once he finally just up and told us about himself," Lana replied. "If he hadn't then I might have gotten burned out, I'll admit."

"And I would have moved with my mother to New Jersey. No one takes New Jersey seriously," Pete complained. "I know I don't. So thank God that Clark finally told everyone if only for that."

"Your ability to see the big picture is truly remarkable, Pete," Chloe said dryly.

" 'Big picture'?" Clark repeated as he entered the room and made his way towards their table. "Don't tell me we're talking about this kind of thing."

"Well you're the one who let us spend time unsupervised with Lex," Chloe retorted. "And I wasn't aware that 'we' were talking about anything since you just got here."

"Sorry I'm late," Clark apologized. "I was on my way here when I saw this woman about to get run over by a car and then she wanted an autograph and a picture so it took me awhile to get out of there."

"You don't have to give your fans memorabilia," Pete told him. "You'd think just saving their lives would be enough."

"Clark's never been very good at saying no to people," Lana reminded them. "At least when it's not his secret being involved."

"It's no surprise you think that," Chloe said, rolling her eyes.

"What else detained you?" Lex inquired.

"She…might have had pie," Clark admitted.

Pete threw up his hands. "Clark! After we waited for you and everything!"

"Well I'm sorry but it was homemade and it was apple and it was delicious," Clark said, not sounding very sorry at all.

"What can you do, Pete?" Chloe asked. "You can't get more American than apple pie."

"I should have ordered an appetizer," Pete muttered. "Why were you even flying to the restaurant anyway?"

"I might have gotten held up at the Planet a little," Clark admitted.

Pete reached for his knife.

"Down, boy," Chloe told him, removing it from his reach.

"It's not my fault Jimmy's decided that I'm Superman again," Clark protested.

"Again?" Lana asked in disbelief. "I really wish that he would just make up his mind one way or another."

"And by 'one way or another', of course, you mean 'stop thinking that Clark is Superman', right?" Lex asked pointedly.

Lana rolled her eyes. "Oh, of course."

"This could all be avoided if I just told him," Clark mused. "And I know him well enough by now to know that he'd keep my secret. It's just that…well, frankly I don't want to."

The four non-Kryptonians exchanged a glance.

"We know," they chorused.

"Hey, I told you all years ago!" Clark defended himself.

"And it took almost divine intervention to do so," Lex countered.

"Well I can promise you that if I should wake up one morning and be sixty-five and you tell me to tell Jimmy and why then I'll do it," Clark declared.

"You shouldn't make those promises lightly," Lex warned. "This is Metropolis, after all."

"I still find it kind of odd that both brothers go by Jimmy," Chloe said, biting her lower lip.

"Regretting not dating dear Henry when you had the chance?" Lex asked sardonically.

Chloe shook her head. "He's cute, I'll admit it, but I just feel that if you can avoid a relationship with someone who will one day tell you that marrying you was the worst decision that they ever made then you should. It will just work out better for all of you."

"Or avoiding dating a zombie or someone who goes crazy at the drop of a hat," Lana added.

Clark beamed. "See? That convent wasn't necessary after all."

"A shame," Lex said sadly.

"You're still missing the point," Lana told him.

"No, you are," Lex disagreed.

Clark snapped his fingers. "Oh, yeah. Apparently Oliver's in Metropolis right now. I ran into him and Tess earlier. He said he met with Lex this morning, actually. How come you didn't mention it?"

"I've actually been trying to suppress the memory," Lex explained. "Your insistence on talking about it really isn't helping."

"If you had really suppressed the memory then Clark could wax poetic about it and it would make no difference," Pete pointed out.

"It was a work in progress and now it must begin again," Lex replied smoothly.

"Do you always have to have an answer for everything?" Pete demanded.

"Does the fact that I do say more about me or about you?" Lex returned.

"Can't you two ever get along?" Clark asked, rolling his eyes.

Pete and Lex exchanged a glance.

"We are getting along," Pete explained.

"Men," Lana said, shaking her head.

"I'm a man and I don't get it," Clark objected.

"Human men," Lana amended.

"Hey!"

"Why don't you and Oliver just let things go, anyway?" Chloe wanted to know. "I mean, you're both on the same side here with the saving the world and all. Whatever happened when you were in school was decades ago."

"Well we are business rivals," Lex pointed out. "Not everything has to come back to schoolboy grudges."

"And so are you and Bruce and Bruce and Oliver," Chloe continued undeterred. "That doesn't mean anything."

"I will let it go when Oliver lets it go," Lex said stiffly.

Chloe rolled her eyes. "And he'll let it go when you let it go. I know the drill."

"Since he was the one to make my school years…less than idyllic I don't see what he needs to let go of at all," Lex retorted.

"Well, your father did kill his parents," Clark pointed out. "And Bruce agrees with him that that's not the kind of thing someone should be expected to get over."

"Of course he does," Lex said, resisting the urge to roll his eyes. "But it's hardly rational to hold the actions' of one's father against them."

"Grief is rarely rational," Clark said wisely.

"I didn't hold it against you when your father erased your memories and sent you out to conquer Earth," Lex replied.

"That was one time!" Clark protested. "And he said he was just trying to help me to grow as a hero."

"You really are trusting," Lex marveled.

"A little sniping isn't all that bad, all things considering," Lana pointed out. "As long as he and Oliver continue to manage to work together then it's really their business how they choose to interact."

"I guess so," Clark said reluctantly. "It's just always really awkward because I'm friends with both."

"You can't ask them not to say anything bad in front of you?" Pete asked, surprised.

Lex figured that it was a testament to how far they had come over the years that he didn't automatically assume that Lex wouldn't listen.

"No, I have and they don't," Clark clarified.

"Then what's the problem?" Chloe asked, confused.

"I can just tell that they're thinking it," Clark explained.

Lex rolled his eyes. "Now you're trying to control our thoughts? A little 'alien menace' of you, don't you think?"

Clark made a face. "Oh, that's not fair."

There were two loud knocks on the door just then. The waiter came back in and politely asked if they were ready to order.

"Finally!" Pete cried out, near tears.

Maybe Lex didn't know whether or not Clark's visit to the future had changed anything or whether he would meet past Clark. Maybe he didn't know what the old future was like or if this one was better. But really, all things being equal, he was pretty satisfied with where he was right now and so he could almost let the rest of it go.

Almost being the operative word of course because he was Lex Luthor and if there was one thing that had always defined him it was his need to know.

Clark would never really understand it but he trusted him and Lex rather thought that might be the best part.

The trust, respect, and friendship of the most powerful man in the world…who could ask for more?

It's The End So Review Please!


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